Panaji, Jan 5 (IANS): Amit Saigal, founder and editor of music magazine the Rock Street Journal, drowned while swimming off a Goa beach Thursday, officials said.

Saigal was swimming with his friends near their anchored sail boat off Bogmalo beach, 35 km from here.

"Saigal's friends who were present there said that he was asthmatic and could have had an asthma attack when he was swimming, while the entourage had anchored the sail boat mid-sea," an official of a private beach management service said.

Saigal was headed with his friends from Panaji to Palolem, a popular beach 80 km from here.

"Our lifeguard stationed at Bogmalo beach around 12.20 p.m. saw through his binoculars that some people on the sailboat were gesticulating wildly for help. We sent a jet ski there to check and found Saigal on the deck with his pulse missing," the official said.

Saigal was later taken to hospital where he was declared dead.

The police have registered the case as an unnatural death and the autopsy is likely to be conducted soon.