A British man has died during a dive on a wreck in Italy, coastguard officials have confirmed.
Local authorities said Paul Towning, 51, was with a group of six divers taking part in a week long programme involving several deep water explorations on ships that had been sunk during World War Two.
Coastguard officials said that Mr Towning had been diving at a depth of around 90 metres when he got into difficulty. He died shortly after reaching the surface of the water.
Paramedics were immediately called to the scene near Villasimius on the south east coast of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
Stefano Bianchelli, director of Prodive, said: 'It looks like he had some sort of attack while underwater and tragically he died as a result. The coastguards and police have impounded the tanks he was using but that's just a technicality as it looks like he had a heart attack.
'He was an experienced diver but this was his first time out here. He was in a group of other divers from France and his wife Jacqueline was on the mainland. She's very upset as you can imagine.
'When he came to the surface he was already out cold. We dragged him onto the boat and I carried out a heart massage and gave him oxygen but sadly there was nothing we could do.'
Mr Towning, who was originally from Bolton but lived in South Yorkshire, arrived in Italy last week and he and the rest of the group were with instructors from a local firm called Pro Dive.
The week long expedition involves diving on eight wrecks.
The ship he was diving in was a steamship called the Bengasi, which was torpedoed by the Royal Navy's HMS Truant in May 1941 and sank within ten minutes of being struck.
It was primarily used as a troopship but at the time was empty and sailing between its home port of Naples and the Sardinian city of Cagliari.
Divers are drawn to the wreck because at the time it was sunk it was carrying a large cargo of glassware products.
The wreck is about a mile from the uninhabited Isola dei Cavoli.
Pro Dive's website says: 'It is one of the most beautiful wreck (sic) in the Mediterranean sea: the holds loaded with glasses, the majesty of the screw and the poop cannon remain engraved on the diver's memory. It is a fascinating dive, but only for the very experienced divers.'
Today, a coastguard spokesman in Cagliari said: 'We were called to an incident involving a group of divers who had been at the wreck of the Bengasi.
'It appears that one of them, a British man, was in difficulty and when he got to the surface he was already unconscious.
'The paramedics tried to save him but he was declared dead at the scene. It looks like he suffered a heart attack.'
Mr Towning's body is expected to be moved to Cagliari, where a magistrate will decide if a post mortem should be held.
A British Embassy spokesman in Rome said: 'We are unaware of this but will look into it.'
A man who answered the phone at Pro Dive said: 'I can't really say anything at the moment.'
The Bengasi has been at the centre of controversy before when three Italian divers were charged with stealing items of a historical nature - glasses from the hold - but they were later cleared.
