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Maritime Accident News

Diver killed off of North Carolina

Posted on Oct 15, 2011

“It’s an unfortunate thing,” said the co-owner of the business that chartered the boat which carried a man who died on a diving excursion off the North Carolina coast on Thursday.

Donald Zantop, 59, a Maryland veterinarian, died after falling unconscious following a 70-minute dive that took him down as far as 100 feet.

The incident occurred around 3 p.m. about 32 miles southeast of Bald Head Island, the Coast Guard said.

An autopsy revealed he died of an air embolus, where an air bubble trapped in a blood vessel stops supply. This can occur when a diver rises too fast and the nitrogen does not have enough time to clear, instead separating and forming bubbles.

Zantop’s wife described him as an experienced diver, said the medical examiner.

Zantop was taken out with a group of 15 divers aboard the 50-foot vessel called the Hawksbill, which was chartered by the Cape Fear Dive Center. The group dove in Megalodon ledge, which is known for fossilized shark’s teeth.

He was taken to shore by a Coast Guard utility boat and transported by Coast Guard helicopter to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said a USCG spokesman.

The USCG has launched an investigation.

This was the second diving fatality on the Hawksbill in 17 months. Corrine Pierce, 50, died in May, 2010 from fatal lung injuries at a shipwreck site off Carolina Beach after ascending too rapidly from 84-feet after mistakenly adding excessive air to her suit which gave her buoyancy and pushed her to the surface too fast.

Source: Star News Online.com

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