DATELINE: 29th September 2001

DIVING DEATH
A diver has perished during a dive on the wreck of the RB Johnson, which lies in 85m of water off the Florida coast.
Eric Reichardt, who was using a Cis Lunar Mk5P rebreather, disappeared from the view of his buddy Michael Pizzio, who was using another rebreather, the Inspiration. Pizzio was forced to surface alone to raise the alarm.
A surface search by the US Coastguard proved futile, and initial searches carried out the next day by a diving team including Pizzio failed to find a body.
Some days later, Reichardt was finally located on the seabed. It was not confirmed whether or not his equipment was recovered.
Pizzio has described how the two had descended to the wreck in a 1.5-knot current and relatively poor visibility, by Florida standards, of some 12-14m, when Reichardt disappeared from view.
Pizzio said that he conducted a full bottom search, including back-tracking to the area in which he had last Reichardt, before surfacing.
Both divers are reported to have been carrying open-circuit bail-out and decompression gases.

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