A 43-year-old Surrey woman is dead after going into medical distress while scuba diving off West Vancouver’s Whytecliff Park on Sunday.
The woman was diving during the fourth day of a four-day diving class being conducted by a Lower Mainland dive shop. She was about 40 metres below the surface on her second dive of the day just after noon, when another diver in the group noticed there was a problem, said Const. Jeff Palmer of the West Vancouver Police Department.
Palmer said the second diver helped the woman to ascend. At that point, the woman’s regulator – which supplies air – had come out of her mouth and it was clear she was in medical distress, he said.
Other people in the dive group got the woman to shore and began CPR, along with bystanders, which was taken over by fire and ambulance crews who arrived at the beach shortly after.
Palmer said efforts to resuscitate the woman were not successful and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The provincial Coroners Service is investigating a cause of death and has taken custody of the woman’s diving equipment.
Palmer said so far there’s no indication of whether the woman’s medical emergency was related to the scuba diving session or not. “That’s an answer the coroner would look for,” he added.
Whytecliff Park is a popular destination for scuba divers around the Lower Mainland.
“There’s a lot of diving that goes on there,” said Palmer. “People who are diving there are aware there are inherent risks in their sport.”
Emergency crews have been called to Whytecliff Park and nearby waters for diving accidents a number of times in recent years.
In June 2013, a 17-year-old Richmond girl was saved after being found unconscious and unresponsive while scuba diving as part of an organized scuba lesson. A 46-year-old Port Moody woman was also rushed to hospital after being hauled out of the water unconscious in August 2010. In January 2012 an experienced diver in his 60s was presumed drowned after he became separated from his diving partner and failed to surface. In November 2008, a 61-year-old diving instructor also died at Whytecliff Park after being found unconscious by his students.
