I was also on the Laura J on Sunday afternoon. I was the first diver in the water, and my dive buddy was the last. The victim was the second last diver to enter the water. He was quiet and withdrawn on the ride out to the dive site, although his fiancee was chatty. He had some minor equipment issues remedied by the Captain before entering the water. He also seemed to hesitate on the line at 15', as if having problems clearing. The victim's yellow fin was sitting on the wreck initially at about 60', was picked up by another diver. When the diver disappeared from view, we never saw another diver on the wreck. We descended down the east side of the wreck to the bottom and then started coming up the west side. There was a large silt cloud in front of us, so we went up and into the wreck. At 60' I looked over the west side of the hull and spotted a yellow fin on the bottom, which I retrieved at 70'. Water temp was 48°. The silt cloud was drifting deeper from that point. On ascending the line after what appeared to be a routine 55 minute dive, the coast guard vessel was just departing from the dive boat. I was advised of the full extent of the situation when I climbed the ladder to board the vessel. I can confirm that oxygen was on board and had been used. I was also advised that in water CPR had been attempted, and that the victim was found non-responsive on the bottom, mask on forehead and reg out of his mouth.
According to the victim's fiancee, this was their second attempt at diving the King. The first had been aborted when she had equipment issues with her BCD. They were relatively inexperienced and had been certified for about a year. They have a cottage at Tobermory and had both completed their open water training in Tobermory. The Coast Guard took the BCD, tank and regulator. I learned from an official source later that the equipment was all functioning normally. I learned from the victim's cottage neighbour (also on the boat) that the victim tended to be nervous and had previously suffered an anxiety attack while underwater. The post mortem is being held today and should provide some medical information on what happened.
My heart goes out to the victims family, to those divers who first responded and were visibly traumatized by the events, and to the boat captain who followed the proper protocols, maintained control and kept her composure until after safely docking the boat. The dive shop handled the situation well, followed up with everyone, and should be commended for appropriateness of their response.
