The dead man has been named as American Joe Steffen, 51, from Ohio. An autopsy has shown that he drowned after suffering a gas embolism.
Steffen was found by another diver, Mike Fowler, near the ceiling of a submerged mine tunnel, his mask full of water. Fowler felt he had to continue diving. 'I'm really pleased that I got back in the water and did what I needed to do, which was finish the dive I had planned the previous day,' he told CBC News.
Expedition leader Rick Stanley, of Ocean Quest Adventure Resort, agreed. He said that the divers' thoughts were with Steffen and his family, but that they thought it the right thing to carry on with what was, as Steffen had recognised, a valuable project.
'Joe would have wanted us to do that,' Stanley told CBC. 'He's an explorer and an adventurer himself, and he knows the objectives we were trying to achieve here.'
The 9sq mile complex of old mines, on Bell Island in Conception Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, was once the world's most productive submarine iron ore site.
The diving team have been examining the mines' layout and general safety with a view to establishing a cave-diving facility there for visitors. Bell Island also features wreck sites.
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