Tourist dies of heart attack while diving

A man has had a heart attack diving at the Poor Knights Islands, east of Whangarei. Photo / Northern Advocate

An American man appears to have died of a heart attack while diving at the Poor Knights Islands off the Northland Coast yesterday.

The 55-year-old was on a guided dive trip to the islands, about 50km northeast of Whangarei, with a group of about 20 others, Dive Tutukaka director Jeroen Jongejans said.

He had been taking photographs of marine life with an underwater camera and was paddling back to the boat when crew members noticed he was in trouble.

They hauled him on board and a doctor on the trip performed CPR while a rescue helicopter was called. However, he could not be saved.

The man was understood to have been an insurance assessor who was doing work for victims of the Christchurch earthquake and had gone to the islands with a friend on his days off, Mr Jongejans said.

He was an experienced diver and had recently enjoyed a trip to the Goat Island Marine Reserve.

The man's friend told crew members he had suffered two previous heart attacks.

Mr Jongejans said it was clear he had died of medical reasons and not because of the dive.

"He didn't come up too fast or anything like that. If he was driving in his car he would have maybe had a heart attack in his car but in this particular case he had a heart attack in the water. It's just very unfortunate."

Police were still trying to track down the man's family in the United States.

His death has been referred to the coroner.

- NZPA