FALL RIVER — A 56-year-old man apparently drowned Friday night after falling from a pier while disembarking from a boat, authorities said.

Douglas Jeffrey, of Whitman, Mass., was found in 15 feet of water near the Borden Light Marina by police divers around 11 p.m., said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol County attorney general’s office. He was pronounced dead at St. Anne’s Hospital.

Jeffrey was walking off the recently docked 37-foot boat, with his wife, shortly before 10 p.m. when he apparently lost his footing and fell into the water. A search began immediately. Jeffrey’s body was located about an hour later, some 20 feet south of where he fell.

Miliote said toxicology results and an autopsy report are pending, but the incident appears to be accidental.