Tourist dies while scuba diving at off Qld coast

A scuba diver has died off the Queensland coast after being found unresponsive in the water at a popular reef.

The outer ribbon reefs of the northern Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea. Picture: Brendan Radke

A tourist has died while on holiday diving at the Great Barrier Reef.

The man, aged in his 60s, was found unresponsive in the water at Ribbon Reef, off Cooktown, on Friday afternoon.

The scuba diver was pulled from the water and those on the boat immediately commenced CPR.

The dive boat rushed to Cooktown and docked about 12.43pm where paramedics came aboard.

Sadly, the man couldn’t be saved. He was an international tourist.

Queensland Police also attended and will prepare a report for the coroner.

Police are treating the man’s sudden death as non-suspicious.

It’s understood the man was a part of a multi-day LiveAboard dive trip from Cairns when tragedy struck.

The Courier-Mail understands that the Rescue 510 helicopter was tasked to the incident but the decision was taken not to divert it from another “high priority” incident as the tourist was already declared dead on the dive boat.

“Rescue 510 was online at this time and responding to another high priority tasking in the Far Northern Region”, a Queensland Police spokeswoman confirmed.

“Where the Rescue 510 may be unavailable, Retrieval Services Queensland can co-ordinate emergency medical responses and deploy specific assets, including from other regions.”

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland confirmed it is investigating the incident.

Originally published as Tourist dies while scuba diving at off Qld coast