One lobster diver dead, one hospitalized - Massachusetts

[DandyDon]

Diver seeking lobsters off Nahant dies after problems with his gear

A diver hunting lobsters off Nahant died yesterday after having trouble with his breathing gear, a fire official said.

Nahant Harbormaster Robert Tibbo said he and police Sgt. Stephen Schultz responded to numerous 911 calls around 4 p.m. reporting two divers in distress.

The men, who Tibbo said were licensed, swam out from a nearby beach with scuba and snorkeling equipment to search for lobsters along the rocks.

“The water is very choppy out there right now,” Tibbo said. “One of them was having trouble with his snorkel and so he tried to switch back on (his) air. Unfortunately he had very little air left in his tank, switched back to his snorkel again, continued to be in distress. His companion tried to help him, switched him on to his own air but at some point he went unconscious.”

Emergency responders said they found a good Samaritan boater with one of the divers on board and the other floating alongside.

“One of them was exhausted but he was ambulatory,” Tibbo said.

The unresponsive diver was pulled aboard the harbormaster’s boat, where responders administered CPR, he said.

Both divers were rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where the unresponsive diver was pronounced dead, a fire official confirmed last night.

 

[jlevine]

Additional link from a news source:

Scuba Diver Runs Out Of Air, Is Thrown Against Rocks

 

[AfterDark]

Not much detail and no follow.

Diver drowns after running out of oxygen off coast of Nahant

NAHANT, Mass. —A diver drowned off the coast of Nahant Saturday afternoon after a woman found two scuba divers in the water.

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Police said they were notified of the distressed divers off East Point near the Northeastern Marine Biology Center just after 4:30 p.m.

First responders in Nahant, along with the U.S. Coast Guard harbor master and local dive teams from Beverly responded to the scene.

The divers were located by civilian boaters and they were pulled on board.

The harbor master took the divers to shore and both were taken to Salem Hospital.

One of the divers, identified as Vinicius Vianna, 38, of Danvers, was pronounced dead at Salem Hospital. The other diver, a 42-year-old Bedford man was treated for exhaustion, but was conscious and alert.

Authorities said Vianna ran out of oxygen and he tried to get air, the current and swells pushed him against some rocks.

Vianna was an experienced diver and a certified rescue diver.