LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack, citing an unidentified man at the scene, Guist then fell on the boat.

The man who was with Guist towed both his boat and Guist's boat back to the landing, called 911 and performed CPR, said Waguespack.

Guist was later transferred to the Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City, where he was pronounced dead. Guist would have turned 49 this week.

Initial reports from deputies in neighboring St. Martin Parish are that Guist was traveling on the waterway around 9 a.m. when he fell, Waguespack said. The boat returned to a nearby landing in St. Martin and Guist was taken to a hospital. The cause of his fall is unclear, and there is no word yet on the official cause of death.

Witnesses called the emergency response number and asked for ambulances or a helicopter.

"You say he's in cardiac arrest?" the dispatcher said on the call.

"Yes sir, we're blowing and pumping the guy's chest right now," the caller said. "It looks like he may have had a heart attack."

"We are extremely saddened to report that our friend and beloved member of the 'Swamp People' family, Mitchell Guist, has passed away earlier today," the History Channel said in a statement.

"Mitchell passed on the swamp, doing what he loved. We appreciate your respect for the Guist family's privacy and hope you join us in sending our thoughts and prayers to his brother, Glenn, and the rest of the Guist family."

"Swamp People" is the popular History Channel TV series that chronicles the lives of alligator hunters in Louisiana.

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