Initial reports had stated that Malcolm-Jamal Warner was in the water with his 8-year-old daughter at a Costa Rican beach on Sunday when he accidentally drowned, but officials in the country are now saying that was not the case.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Warner, 54, was dragged by a water current and drowned at Playa Grande in Limon, Costa Rica, the Caribbean Guard wrote Monday in a Facebook post. The nation’s volunteer lifeguard group also stated that there was no lifeguard on duty at the time of the incident.
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) in a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday said that Warner, fondly remembered for starring in The Cosby Show, was without his daughter in the water at the time that he drowned.
RELATED STORIES
“Mr. Warner was playing with his daughter at the seashore at one point. He then left her out of the water, and he and a friend of his entered the sea,” the statement, which was translated to English from Spanish, said.
READ ALSO: Man dies after rushing to save child from drowning in river
“It was at that moment that they were swept away by the current, and the friend managed to get out,” the statement added. “However, Mr. Warner was unable to get out and was pulled out by several people on the beach. He received care from Red Cross officials, but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Warner underwent an autopsy, and his cause of death was ruled as accidental asphyxiation by submersion. The deceased 54-year-old is survived by his wife and daughter, and initial reports stated that he was vacationing in Costa Rica with his family at the time of the fatal accident.
Medical Director for the Talamanca Health Area, Dr. Mauricio Solano Corella, told the news outlet that a Nicaraguan man, who attempted to save Warner, was later “treated, found to be stable and was discharged without complications.”
READ ALSO: Georgia mourns hero dad who died attempting to save his two stepdaughters from drowning
