DIVING NEWS
The diver who died at the National Diving & Activity Centre (NDAC) inland dive-site in Gloucestershire earlier this month has been named as Wlodzimierz Jurasz, 28, from Upminster in Essex.
An inquest opened on 13 October, five days after Jurasz’s death, and adjourned until March.
The serious chest injuries initially reported by police had taken the form of a gas embolism and barometric trauma, it was stated.
The fatal incident was reported on Divernet here.
* FOLLOWING A FIVE-DAY search involving some 15 US and Canadian agencies, the body of a police-diver was recovered from the fast-flowing Niagara River in New York state on Tuesday (17 October).
Officer Craig Lehner, 34, had been taking part in a routine training exercise at a site in Buffalo on 13 October.
According to a Buffalo News account, he had been diving alone in the river when the tender cable connecting him to colleagues on land became snagged, trapping him under water. Despite repeated attempts to rescue him from the river, reportedly flowing at 12mph, the line had eventually snapped.
The subsequent search was complicated by poor weather and underwater visibility, but Lehner’s body was eventually found a short distance from where he had gone missing.
The officer had been with Buffalo Police Department for nine years and was a member of the Underwater Recovery Team and a K-9 dog-handler.
The BPD’s Homicide Unit is now leading an investigation into his death, including an autopsy, though it has stated that there was no suggestion of foul play.
