BEND, Oregon (31 May 2009) — A 41-year-old man died while learning to scuba dive with a local dive shop. Authorities in Bend, Oregon, told CDNN that Robert Ray Jr died at Cultus Lake during a PADI open water scuba diving course. Ray signed up for the course at Central Oregon Diving, a local retail dive store that sells PADI scuba diving courses, diving equipment and dive trips. Deschutes County sheriff''s deputies said Ray was doing a checkout dive near a boat ramp at the lake when he apparently encountered problems with his regulator, or panicked and stopped using it. The dive instructor who was in the water teaching the course tried to assist Ray with his alternate air source but failed. The instructor pulled Ray to the surface and brought him to shore where he started CPR. Paramedics responded to a call for help at 12:25 pm and took over CPR when they arrived at the scene of the scuba diving accident. An AirLink helicopter that assisted in the emergency airlifted the victim to St. Charles Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. | 
