A little more information, but still a lot remains unknown at this point.
Woman dies after surfacing unconscious while diving off Long Beach Island - pressofAtlanticCity.com
BARNEGAT LIGHT — A 30-year-old woman died Saturday afternoon after losing consciousness during a recreational dive eight miles off the Long Beach Island coast, authorities said.
The woman, whose identity officials have not made public, was one of six people on the Lady Godiver, a 30-foot charter boat based out of Stan’s Marine Center in Ocean Township.
The U.S. Coast Guard received a call at 12:38 p.m. from one of the boat’s crew members, who said a woman diving off the boat surfaced unconscious.
People on the boat performed CPR on the woman until rescuers arrived at about 1 p.m. The boat was equipped with emergency oxygen, according to the boat owner’s website.
The boat returned to the Coast Guard dock on Bayview Avenue in Barnegat Light, where EMTs resumed CPR on the woman before transporting her to Southern Ocean County Hospital, the Coast Guard and witnesses said.
Medical personnel at the hospital pronounced the woman dead shortly after her arrival.
The Coast Guard is investigating the accident and was interviewing people on the boat Saturday afternoon to determine what happened in the 54-degree water.
“There are a lot of unknowns right now,” Petty Officer Ann Marie Gorden said. “We’re trying to piece together the facts.”
Gorden said no one involved in the rescue effort wanted to discuss the situation. Lady Godiver crew members remained on the boat while it was docked at the Coast Guard station, but also declined to comment.
“We’re not talking to you, Buddy,” one man told a Press of Atlantic City reporter.
Lady Godiver Capt. Howard Rothweiler did not immediately return phone messages left Saturday afternoon with his wife at their Toms River home.
The dock adjacent to the Coast Guard station in Barnegat Light was filled with fishermen when the Lady Godiver arrived.
Tim Brindley, 48, of Barnegat Light, said he heard the original call for help and that the woman was said to be floating face down before they pulled her onto the boat.
Brindley estimated the people were diving about 80 feet deep.
The Lady Godiver’s website says it is an official vessel of the New Jersey Historical Divers Association, a Monmouth County-based organization that is dedicated to preserving shipwreck and maritime history. The waters off LBI are often explored by divers looking for shipwrecks.
