A 44-year-old woman surfaced unconscious after passing out at 20m on her descent to the WW1 wreck Perrone. Efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.

The woman diver, from Somerset, was one of a party diving from the charter RIB Interconnect on Friday 1 August. She had entered the water with her husband, who was her buddy on the dive to the 32m wreck of WW1 steamship Perrone, four miles off Hope's Nose, south Devon.

The woman's dive computer indicates that she only reached a depth of 20m. She returned to the surface unconscious, and was recovered into the RIB where attempts were made to resuscitate her. Brixham Coastguard were contacted and the diver was collected by the Torquay lifeboat, and resuscitation attempts continued as she was taken ashore.

She was airlifted to Torbay hospital by the Portland helicopter which had diverted to the incident, but unfortunately was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Torbay police have taken the diver's scuba equipment for inspection and it is being examined by experts at DDRC, Plymouth.

Weather and sea conditions at the time of the incident were reported to be very favourable. A spokesman for the Coastguard described the woman as an experienced diver.


Related website
Coastguard Agency

News Index Page