Diver 'died of heart attack brought on by stress of saving friend from drowning'
What a tragedy!
-------------------
By Andy Dolan
Last updated at 1:20 PM on 10th March 2010
An experienced diver died of a heart attack in the Red Sea four days after he rescued a friend in difficulty.
Robert Fox was accidentally left behind after he helped 'dive buddy' Michael O'Brien ascend to the surface and the group rushed Mr O'Brien to shore amid fears he was at risk of the bends, an inquest heard.
When the group realised the 43-year-old was missing from their boat the guide leader returned to the ship wreck they had been exploring, but was unable to find him.
The body of Mr Fox, from Malvern, Worcestershire, was eventually located near the wreck's anchor four days later, after bad weather had hampered further searches of the site.
The inquest heard Mr Fox, a divemaster with the Professional Association of Dive Instructors, and Mr O'Brien were part of a group of four divers exploring the wreck off the coast of Safaga, in southern Egypt, with the guide when the tragedy unfolded in January.
Mr O'Brien had the wrong weights fitted to his dive belt and descended at a much faster speed than Mr Fox, landing on the sea bed 115ft (35m) down.
Mr Fox, who had over 15 years diving experience and worked as an off-shore welding inspector, managed to reach his buddy - whose mask had slipped from his mouth -just before he disappeared below the bow of the shipwreck.
He gave the struggling diver his spare oxygen, who then ascended at speed and surfaced a long way from the dive boat.
Victor Round, the assistant deputy coroner for Worcester, said: '(Mr O'Brien) was found to be in serious risk of the bends. Steps were taken to get him to shore.
'It was quite a long time before anyone realised [Mr Fox] was not in the boat and missing.'
The dive leader went down to the anchor of the El Tur Arish wreck, where Mr O’Brien had reported last seeing Mr Fox, but could not locate him.
The inquest heard that when he was finally found under the wreck, by the anchor, on January 20 his suit and equipment were all intact and his mask was still on his face and filled with air.
Examination of his dive kit later found his oxygen tank was still half-full when he died.
Mr Fox, who was single, was among a group of 12 British divers visiting the Red Sea on a dive tour and was diving with a local company called Orca Dive Club.
Dr Lyndsae Wheen, a pathologist specialising in diving deaths, told the inquest a cholesterol plaque in Robert's coronary artery had ruptured causing a blood clot.
She said: 'This culminated in an irregular heart beat and a sudden heart attack that killed Robert as he struggled to cope with the situation.'
Ruling Mr Fox died of natural causes, the coroner said: 'A stressful incident can trigger the movement of a plaque like this. It can only be speculation, but going to the aid of a buddy in distress while diving may be that stressful incident.'
The diver lived with his parents, Allan, 71, and Gillian. The family moved to Worcestershire from Saffron Walden, Essex, seven years ago.
The day after Robert's body was recovered, another British diver from the same group, David Allseybrook, 42, from Derby, died while ascending from the Chrisoula K wreck in the nearby Abu Nuhas area. The deaths were treated as unrelated accidents.
A spokesman at Orca Dive Club's Safaga base said nobody was available to comment on the circumstances surrounding Mr Fox's death.
