A 51-year-old Sewickley Township man died after being pulled from a backyard swimming pool in South Huntingdon on Thursday afternoon, state police said.

The victim, Jason Kukonik, died Thursday at Monongahela Valley Hospital, Washington County, said Trooper Robert Schmid of the Belle Vernon station. Schmid said an autopsy would be performed Friday.

Kukonik was pulled from the 4-foot-deep pool where he was discovered floating face down at about 5 p.m. Kukonik apparently suffered a medical event while in the water, Schmid said.

The homeowner and emergency responders performed CPR on him at the property along River Road in the Jacobs Creek neighborhood before he was transported to the hospital, Schmid said.

The homeowner, Richard Martinelli, said his friend was in the swimming pool while he was changing the pool’s filter. In the minute it took to change the filter, Martinelli said he looked up and saw his friend floating with his face in the water.

“I jumped right in. I lifted his face up, but I could not lift him out of the pool,” Martinelli said.

Martinelli said it took him and two emergency responders to get the victim out of the water.

Emergency responders from the Smithton, Yukon and Turkeytown fire departments responded, as did an ambulance from Rostraver West Newton Emergency Medical Services.

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