VENICE, Florida — A young man is dead after a diving accident in Florida today. Authorities told CDNN that Russ Harris, 22, may have been a victim of shallow water blackout when he died while snorkel diving with his father and friends about 25 miles off the coast of Venice. Other divers brought Harris to the surface after they found him unconscious near a wreck and called for help at about 11;30 am as they started CPR. The U.S. Coast Guard scrambled an HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida. The helicopter crew winched Harris aboard the aircraft and took the diving accident victim to Lee Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Harris was a divemaster intern at Florida West Scuba School and was studying to become a high school science teacher and football coach. This year he graduated from Maryville College where he earned All-America and All-Conference honors as a football player who was the captain of the team in 2008. Shallow Water Blackout A shallow water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five metres (16 feet), when the swimmer does not necessarily experience an urgent need to breathe and has no other obvious medical condition that might have caused it. Victims are often established practitioners of breath-hold diving, are fit, strong swimmers, and have not experienced problems before. | 
