A 33-year-old British man has died while exploring a shallow shipwreck in northern Greece in what were described as seas that had remained rough following stormy conditions.
The site is known as the Epanomi Shipwreck, on the Halkidiki peninsula about 40km from Thessaloniki, and the fatality occurred on Sunday, 30 June.
The wreck is a government soil-carrier that was abandoned after hitting a sandbank in the 1970s. It lies in shallow water close to shore, much of it above the surface, so is visited from the nearby beach, providing a focal point mainly for snorkellers.
When the man was seen in apparent distress at the surface he was pulled from the water by other swimmers. An emergency call brought a rescue boat and an ambulance to the beach but he could not be resuscitated.
The Port Authority of Michaniona is carrying out an investigation and a post mortem examination was being conducted at a nearby hospital.
Helping with salvage
In the USA on the same day, a 50-year-old male scuba diver died while taking part in salvage operations on Crane Lake in northern Minnesota – though he was not employed as a commercial diver.
William Rebarich, from a town called Embarrass, was assisting a group to recover a piece of sunken machinery onto a barge from a depth of 21m. He was seen to descend but the alarm was later raised when he failed to resurface.
Rebarich was located and brought ashore by emergency services, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was reported to have died at the scene.
According to St Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Rebarich was trained as a scuba diver but had no known connections with any recovery or salvage company. The incident remains under investigation.
Also read: Ghost Diving kicks off year-long Greek project, Greece MPA plans hoped to start domino effect, Ghost Diving continues Ithaca clean-up
