Diver dies after getting tangled in net

A Port Alberni man is dead after becoming tangled in a fishing net during a scuba dive Sunday night in the Harbour Quay.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Murray said the 42-year-old man was diving just before 9 p.m. Sunday when he surfaced briefly, and called out to his wife that he was in trouble.

As she called police, he surfaced once more but then went under and was not seen again.

The coast guard, which was docked in Port Alberni, immediately responded and found the man tangled in a fishing net behind the Port Boat House.

“The coast guard members were able to pull up the net which had the diver (in) it and pulled it to shore,” Murray said. “When they brought him out of the water he was unconscious and not breathing.”

Attempts by paramedics to revive the man were unsuccessful. He was taken to West Coast General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“It isn’t uncommon to have nets in that area,” Murray noted.

Murray said the man’s name is not being released at the request of his family.

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