Newsroom
A 61-year-old British diver died Tuesday after maritime police pulled him from the water unconscious near the Zenobia shipwreck in Larnaca Bay, the second reported death near the popular dive site this year.
Larnaca’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said it received a call at 10:10 a.m. reporting an unconscious diver near the wreck. The center activated its national search-and-rescue plan and dispatched a Port and Maritime Police speedboat and an ambulance.
The boat crew brought the man ashore and handed him over to paramedics. He was taken to Larnaca General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The rescue center's statement gave no cause of death and did not say where the man had been diving in relation to the wreck.
On March 7, a Greek Cypriot diver died after rescuers responded to a distress call near the Zenobia. The site was also the scene of a fatal incident in March 2014, when a 57-year-old British man lost consciousness while diving with friends and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
The Zenobia, a Swedish cargo ferry, sank on its maiden voyage in 1980 and now lies on its side in Larnaca Bay. The top of the wreck is about 16 meters below the surface, while the seabed is about 42 meters down. The ferry’s cargo is part of what draws divers to the site. More than 100 trucks went down with the ship, and some can still be seen inside the cargo hold.
