2 High School Students Die In Monterey Diving Accident

MONTEREY (CBS/AP) -- Two 17-year-old high school students from Carson City, Nev. died Saturday while scuba diving in Monterey Bay, authorities said.

The boys from a group of 19 people on a diving excursion failed to resurface, and boats from the Monterey Fire Department and U.S. Coast Guard took to the water to look for them, fire Division Chief Felix Colello said.

After a 45-minute search, employees of the Reno-based diving company that led the trip found the boys at the bottom, 40 to 50 feet from the surface, Colello said.

Both were in cardiac arrest when they were pulled aboard a fire department boat, Colello said. They were later declared dead at Community Hospital. The cause of death was not immediately clear, and the coroner's office was investigating, he said.

Carson City Schools Superintendent Richard Stokes told the Nevada Appeal the boys, whose names have not been released, were from an oceanography class at Carson High School. Stokes said the trip involved several dives and a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Carson football coach Blair Roman said the boys were on his varsity team, and would be again next year.

"It's devastating," Roman told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It's a devastating situation for all families involved."

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