The Times of London said Kidd was sucked under a mountain waterfall Saturday afternoon while he was on vacation with his 25-year-old girlfriend, Ailsa Lamble, and her father, Richard.

The Daily Telegraph said Kidd had been in Bataan to paint a luxury ship.

"As soon as Kidd got into the water into what looked like a basin, he was sucked straight and could no longer come up," Richard Lamble told the Manila Times.

"I ran away to get a stick and when I returned with the stick my father told me to ask for help," Ailsa Lamble added. "My father and two men from the village applied CPR for almost an hour."

A Tyneside native, Kidd penned the children's book, "Monsieur Thermidor: A Fantastic Fishy Tale," and was also an artist.

The Times of London quoted a statement he posted on the Stour Gallery Web site as saying: "My paintings are about remote, mountainous landscapes because that's where I feel most at home. Georges Braque once said, 'Making a painting is like taking a journey.' This seems to me to be a fitting comparison."