Diver dies trying to free net

The Boston Globe reported that Duane Rine, a 51-year-old fisherman from Gloucester, Massachusetts was aboard a 50m-long fishing vessel working 150 miles offshore.

As an experienced diver, he volunteered to descend when netting became entangled around the vessel’s rudder. He had freed caught-up nets from hull bottoms in the past.

When he resurfaced, he was clearly in difficulty, having ditched his BC and breathing rig which seemingly had caught in the netting.

He was conscious when taken aboard but then lost consciousness and stopped breathing.

Attempts at CPR failed to revive him.

The Gloucester Assistant Harbourmaster, James Crawford, told press that, dive gear entrapment apart, it was also possible that Rine “could have hit his head” against the rocking boat.