Local diver passes away after Friday rescue

The Seattle scuba diving community is mourning the loss of 43-year-old Jonathan Saenz. On Friday, rescue crews flocked to Lake Washington after reports of a diver in distress.

But it wasn’t the first responders that found him, it was a nearby boat, jumping into action.

“If you’re on the water, you know, you should be prepared,” says Jeff Harris, a local marine biologist with NOAA.

He was also at Lake Washington, Friday, as part of a training course on water safety. He never anticipated the skills they were being taught, would so soon be put to the test.

“Odd timing for it to actually become a real-life scenario,” says Harris.

He says he and the other people on his training boat saw rescue crews coming in full force, with a call over the radio of a missing diver in distress. Harris says that’s when he spotted something in the distance. His heart sank.

“The moment they said diver on the radio, I thought, ‘oh, no, you know, that has to be it.’”

His boat, rushed to the diver.  “We got him on board,” says Harris. “We started compressions, and we rushed him to EMS.”

He calls it an intense moment. A moment, he hoped bought the diver, Jonathan Saenz, more time. Saenz was rushed to the hospital and died later that night.

“It was really sad to hear that,” says Harris.

Saenz was an avid underwater photographer, who friends say died doing something he loved.