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Visiting diver, 62, loses life on Port St Mary outing

 

A visiting diver from Manchester who got into difficulties in seas off Port St Mary has died.

Eric Waburton, 62, became ill when he surfaced after diving near Sugarloaf rock yesterday afternoon.

Fellow divers gave first aid from their boat before an ambulance arrived.

The Port St Mary lifeboat was launched and crew loaned oxygen bottles during desperate attempts to save the man's life.

An RAF Sea King helicopter was dispatched from the UK with a doctor on board. He tried to resuscitate the diver but pronounced him dead in the ambulance.

It's understood Mr Waburton, from Whitefield, was on a privately-run local diving trip, had completed a dive and only became ill on the surface, but the cause of his death is not yet known.

He was with a party from Bury in Greater Manchester who had arrived in the Island on Friday morning.

 

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