A 65-year-old Pennsylvania woman has died at a Miami hospital after losing consciousness during a dive off Key West, police said Thursday.
Michele R. Fina, of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, was airlifted to Mercy Hospital Wednesday morning after a diving trip at Sand Key turned dire.
She was diving with Captain’s Corner Dive Center at about 11 a.m. when she surfaced in about 30 feet of water, waved and went back underwater, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Fina was found floating nearby shortly thereafter without a weight belt,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Adam Linhardt. “There are no signs of foul play.”
U.S. Coast Guard crews took Fina to Coast Guard Station Key West, where paramedics were waiting and took her to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island. She was then airlifted.
Autopsy results are pending.
It’s the third water-related emergency in the Lower Keys this month.
Last weekend,
a 70-year-old snorkeler from Lake Alfred died after a snorkeling trip at Easter Dry Rocks, south of Key West. Linda Gay Adams was pronounced dead at Lower Keys Hospital.
On May 7, a man reported his wife,
Jacqueline Dunmire, had disappeared while they were divingoff Summerland Key. The Coast Guard and other agencies
searched round the clock, covering more than 2,000 square nautical miles, before calling off the search.
