A Summerland Key man died while diving offshore of Key West Tuesday.
50 year old Robert Carney was on a private vessel – a 32 foot Contender - on a dive and spearfishing trip with five others. They were in the Dry Tortugas. The victim was on his first dive of the day with a dive buddy in about 72 feet of water at 1 p.m. when the incident occurred. The dive buddy said they were spearfishing and had been on the bottom for about 10 minutes when he noticed Carney’s regulator was out of his mouth. He then noticed Carney was limp and not moving.
He said he tried to pull Carney to the surface, but he was too heavy. He surfaced to get help.
Others on board the boat were able to get the victim up to the surface. The U.S. Coast Guard was notified. The vessel returned to Key West to the Coast Guard station where Carney was pronounced dead.
Major Crimes Detective Lissette Zuelch responded and the victim’s dive gear was taken and will be examined. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of his death.