The Royal Bahamas Police Force is investigating the death of a 64-year-old male diver thought to have been injured by the propeller of the boat from which he had been spearfishing.
The incident occurred about 27km north-west of Bimini, the western-most island-chain in the Bahamas so readily accessible from Florida.
Officers were alerted at around 3pm on 7 May and responded in co-ordination with the US Coast Guard and members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
The 18m sport-fishing vessel, identified as the Great Lakes, was located at around 4.30pm. The victim, one of the six men onboard, was reported to have suffered severe injuries to his right leg after becoming entangled in the propeller.
The police and Coast Guard decided with the vessel’s captain that he should proceed to Miami some 60km away so that the diver could be given urgent medical treatment there. However, he succumbed to his injuries and died before reaching the USA.
Indonesian incident
The incident occurred a week after another speardiver died after being struck by a boat, this time in Indonesia. The 34-year-old Norwegian male had been part of a group spearfishing off the coast of Bali when a passing snorkelling-tour boat struck him, according to local authorities.
The fatal incident occurred on the morning of 2 May off Tanjung Pakaang, an area of typically heavy recreational marine traffic in the Nusa Islands south-east of Bali.
Nusa Penida police officers responded to reports of the incident and stated that the victim, identified only by the initials MEB, had suffered severe trauma with injuries to his chest and leg and lacerations consistent with a propeller strike.
The man had been recovered from the water by others on his boat, which had headed for harbour on Nusa Penida so that he could be treated at a medical facility there.
Staff reportedly tried for an hour to save his life, but he was eventually pronounced dead and transferred to a hospital in Denpasar on Bali for a post mortem examination. Police investigations into the circumstances of both deaths are underway.
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