Diver dies on new shipwreck | KeysNews.com
A 51-year-old Texas man died while diving on the Vandenberg wreck Friday afternoon, authorities said.
Richard McCoy Jr. of Cypress was on his first dive of the day with the M/V Spree, a dive charter based at Robbie's Marina on Stock Island, when the incident occurred about 12:10 p.m.
McCoy, who was diving with two instructors, had been down for about 20 minutes and was at 95 feet when he began having unknown trouble, according to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office press release.
They began helping him to the surface, but he stopped breathing, so they rushed him the remaining 25 feet to the surface, sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin wrote.
The M/V Spree notified the Coast Guard about 12:20 p.m., agency spokesman Matthew Meinhold said.
McCoy received CPR en route to the Coast Guard station, and paramedics continued CPR en route to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Herrin said.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating and took his dive equipment into custody for examination. The Medical Examiner's Office is conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
McCoy had flown into Miami and bused to Key West Thursday with a group of people on an organized dive trip.