Geoduck diver fatality - Puget Sound, Washington

[DandyDon]

Diver dies near Fox Island, deputies say

A diver died in Puget Sound near Fox Island on Tuesday, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies responded just before 2 p.m. to a 911 call of an unresponsive diver just south of the Navy Surface Warfare Center area on Fox Island, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The people who called 911 had the 36-year-old diver on a commercial geoduck boat about 100 yards from the shoreline, Troyer said.

The diver worked on the boat for the Squaxin Island Tribe, Troyer said.

They attempted CPR on the diver as they took him to the Navy dock, Troyer said, where Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One met them.

Gig Harbor Fire transported the man to Saint Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, where he was confirmed deceased.

The U.S. Coast Guard will be leading the investigation because the incident happened on a commercial vessel, Troyer said.

Geoduck Diver Who Died Near Fox Island Identified

FOX ISLAND, WA - The commercial geoduck diver who died after being pulled from Puget Sound near Fox Island has been identified. The diver was Daniel Hall, 36, of Olympia, according to the Olympian newspaper. Pierce County divers and Gig Harbor Fire and Rescue responded to the emergency on Tuesday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. off the west side of the island.

Hall was pulled out of the water and taken to a hospital in Tacoma where he was pronounced dead.