A 71-year-old man died yesterday (13 March) following a scuba dive on the Eagle shipwreck off Islamorada on the Florida Keys.
He was identified by Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) as Lonnie Lee Higgins of Columbia, Missouri.
According to the sheriff’s office, Higgins had started his dive at about 9am but was found unresponsive on the 33m seabed by a dive professional, reported to have been diving from another charter-boat. He had brought him up to a vessel where CPR was initiated.
Alerted by an emergency call, Coast Guard officers from Islamorada took Higgins ashore. Paramedics were waiting to transport him to hospital in Tavernier, where he was subsequently declared dead.
No other details have been released about the circumstances surrounding Higgins’ wreck-dive, including whether he had been diving alone. An investigation is being carried out, including a post mortem medical examination.
The Eagle is one of the best-known wreck-dive sites in the Upper Florida Keys, regularly visited by charter dive-boats. It is a 10-15min boat-ride out from Islamorada marinas.
The 87m coastal cargo vessel, built in the Netherlands in 1962, was deliberately sunk as an artificial reef near Lower Matecumbe Key in 1985 following a fire onboard. A hurricane broke the wreck into two halves in 1998.
A feature about diving off Islamorada, including on the Eagle wreck, was scheduled to appear on Divernet tomorrow (15 March).
