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See Clarksville pharmacist dies while diving in Florida
And from Tenn. man dies after diving in Gulf
And from Tenn. man dies after diving in Gulf
A Tennessee man died Sunday after diving in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola Beach.
Roger Greer, of Clarksville, Tenn., 64, was being towed in to the dive charter boat "Wet Dream" owned by Scuba Shack when he rolled over in the water and became unresponsive, said Scuba Shack owner Eilene Beard.
"It's a complete bafflement to everybody," said Beard. "He had resurfaced from a successful dive and he swam to the safety line, and they were pulling him in when all of a sudden he just rolled over face down in the water."
Greer came to Pensacola with a 14-person dive group from Clarksville dive shop Waterdogs Scuba & Safety LLC, Beard said.
When they noticed him floating face down in the water, Greer's fellow divers helped get him aboard and began performing CPR while they went back in to shore.
Beard said Greer hadn't ingested any water.
According to Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Mike Clausen, Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation agents arrived and took over CPR.
Greer was then transported to the Naval Hospital on Hwy. 98, where he was pronounced dead.
The divers were at the site of the shipwrecked S.S. San Pablo, some nine miles off Pensacola Beach in about 80 feet of water.
Beard said the group had just completed their second dive when Greer became unresponsive.
An owner of Waterdogs, who declined to give his name, said Greer had been a certified diver since 1995 and that he was "a very skilled diver," and that Greer's death appeared to be the result of a "catastrophic medical event."
"I could tell you what the expected probability of what happened is," the man said. "But we just don't know for certain, and we would be speculating if we said otherwise."