Diver missing off the Palm Beaches

[Desert_Diver]

From the Saturday, July 8th edition of the Salt Lake Tribune:


Salt Lake man dies during Florida dive

A Salt Lake City man died while diving off the
Palm Beach coast in Florida. Hyo H. Copinga, 59,
was part of a group of 10, including his two daughters,
who took a commercial dive boat to Flower Patches reef
on Thursday. The group went down for a 45-minute dive
about a mile off the coast in 60 feet of water, according
to the U.S. Coast Guard. Copinga never resurfaced. Divers
from another boat found Copinga under water several hours
later, about 4 p.m. Coast Guard rescuers tried to
resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the Riviera
Beach marina, said Palm Beach Sheriff's Sgt. Pete Palenzuela.
Investigators were looking into whether an equipment malfunction
or a lightning strike in the area contributed to Copinga's death.
He was vacationing with his wife, Charlotte, and daughters,
authorities said.

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

My condolances to the family, I was diving in that area at the time and the surface conditions when our group surfaced were pretty bad (for the record they were fine when we dropped).

 

[LiteHedded]

wow I go out on the deep O all the time.
i've dove the flower gardens site many times as well.
it's all pretty surreal

 

[Life-Is-Good-Diver]

Here is a link to baynews9 :

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2006/7/7/167606.html

 

[trigfunctions]

This is terrible news. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

The missing diver was discovered during roll call

This is not a good sign. It sounds like there was a failure of the buddy system.

 

[LiteHedded]

anymore news on this?
heartattack? entanglement? equipment failure?
lightning seems like someone else in the water would've noticed it as well

 

[Life-Is-Good-Diver]

anymore news on this?
heartattack? entanglement? equipment failure?
lightning seems like someone else in the water would've noticed it as well

heres another link with more detailed info :

http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s060706.html

 

[Ed Jackson1]

Was there gas in the cylinder and was he still wearing his weights?

 

[LiteHedded]

no new info on this one?

 

[laserdoc]

I hate reading about this stuff!! Makes me think twice or three times about doing this sport. Just when I'm going out of the country in 2 weeks to go diving ?!?!??