French diver Loic Leferme, former holder of the world record for free diving, has died in training, rescue officials said on Wednesday.

Leferme, 36, was training off Villefranche-sur-Mer, near the southern city of Nice when he could not get back to the surface, the Nice nautical club said.

"He stayed at the bottom. His body was then brought up by a rescue service diver but it wasn't possible to resuscitate him," a club official said.

Leferme was one of the world's leading proponents of free diving, in which divers descend deep into the sea unaided by any breathing apparatus.

He held the world record for so-called "no limit" diving, until Austria's Herbert Nitsch beat his record of 171 metres with a dive of 183 metres in August 2006.