USF student drowns in cave-diving accident
Doesn't appear to be a scuba incident... none of them had any scuba gear.
Inexperienced freediver in overhead?
Very sad.
USF student drowns in cave-diving accident
By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 18, 2011
Updated: 0 min. ago
Amy Ryan, a biomedical science major at the University of South Florida, was supposed to graduate in less than three weeks and then, hopefully, attend medical school, said Stuart Silverman, dean of the USF Honors College.
But those plans will never be fulfilled.
On Sunday evening, Ryan went diving in a cave off South Riviera Point in Citrus County with her boyfriend, Steven Orosz of Zephyrhills, and another couple, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.
Ryan, 22, of Palm Bay, followed her friends through the underwater caves but failed to surface, according to the sheriff's office. Her friends repeatedly attempted to find her but were unsuccessful.
A Citrus County firefighter with rescue diving experience was able to find Ryan's body about 6:30 p.m. and pull her from a portion of the cave where she was lodged, according to the sheriff's office.
Ryan was taken to Oak Hill Hospital in Hernando County, where she was pronounced dead at 7:18 p.m. An investigation is ongoing, according to the sheriff's office.
Neither Ryan nor any of her friends were using scuba gear, sheriff's spokeswoman Gail Tierney said. The divers were sharing one set of goggles between them, she said.
Ryan was a "somewhat inexperienced diver," Tierney said, but at least two members of her party were dive certified. Tierney did not know whether any were cave certified.
For Silverman, the news was devastating.
"She is engaging," he said. "She is bright. She is verbal, articulate and she's got sparkle. Some people just kind of shine. They just have that gregarious personality."
Ryan graduated from Bayside High School in Palm Bay with straight A's, school secretary Pat Clark said. When she got to USF, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to be a nurse or physician.
She explored a career in medicine because a childhood friend died of cancer, Silverman said.
"We talked a little bit," Silverman said. "I told her not to worry too much about it, to gain some experience, shadowing and volunteering in hospitals and see what nurses do and docs do."
She did and opted to become a physician, Silverman said.
"She was waiting to hear if she was accepted at the USF College of Medicine," he said. "She finished her honors thesis a year early, which is absolutely unbelievable."
The topic, he said, was the affects of heat illness on the body.
Ryan would have made a "phenomenal physician," Silverman said.
"She was hardworking, bright and volunteers when we need students," he said. "She was a leader on campus in the premed society. Not only is she bright, but she also has an ideal bedside manner."
On his Facebook page, Orosz posted:
"Oh it's the Little things you miss / So say goodbye to love and hold your head / Up high, there's no need to rush / Were all just waiting ..."
