KEY LARGO, Florida (7 Oct 2005) -- One diver is missing and another was airlifted to hospital after a scuba diving accident on the Northern Light shipwreck off Key Largo at about 12:20pm Friday. The injured diver who made it back to the commercial dive boat "Shadow" was in critical condition "with no pulse" and received medical oxygen onboard as the Tavernier Dive Center boat crew waited for authorities to respond to their distress call. A Coast Guard helicopter airlifted the injured diver to Mariners Hospital where he is being treated for the bends in a hyperbaric chamber. The Coast Guard, local boats and the Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department's Water Emergency Team are searching for the missing diver. According to Coast Guard personnel and local dive shop operators, sea conditions were bad at the time of the accident with 20 - 25 knot winds and 8-ft waves. The Northern Light sank off Key Largo during a storm in November 1930. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |