UPDATED 15 March
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 as Lonnie Lee Higgins of Columbia, Missouri.
Higgins had started his dive at about 9am. Divernet understands that he was part of a group of four escorted by a divemaster, and is thought to have suffered a serious medical emergency that left him at or near the maximum 33m depth of the site.
A diving instructor from a different boat, one belonging to Conch Republic Divers of Tavernier, had been at the site collecting rubbish. He volunteered to bring Higgins up and back onto the vessel from which he had dived, where he applied CPR.
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.
“I could not be prouder of my crew-member and even though we practise these scenarios all the time and hope we never use, in the event we are called to action, we are ready,” said Ashley Hudson, owner of Conch Republic Divers. “Prayers to the family of the diver and lots of love to the other operation and their crew.”
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.
