Another Dive Accident in Port Washington

[matt t.]

From the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel

Update: Scuba diver who died is identified
By Scott Williams of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 11, 2009 5:24 p.m.

Port Washington — The victim of a fatal scuba-diving accident Saturday in Lake Michigan has been identified as Deep K. Varma, 41, of Verona.

The Ozaukee County Sheriff's Department said Varma was pronounced dead at 11:18 a.m. after diving into the lake Saturday morning near Port Washington.

According to the sheriff's department, Varma was among 13 members of a diving club on a chartered expedition to explore an 1868 shipwreck site about five miles southeast of Port Washington.

He went into the water with a partner just before 10 a.m., and shortly after reaching the lake bottom he began having trouble breathing, the sheriff's department said.

Crew members on the chartered boat performed CPR, but the Dane County resident was pronounced dead after being returned to harbor. An autopsy is planned Monday.

Another scuba diver, Phil J. Patz, 48, of Stone Park, Ill., died June 25 after diving 300 feet deep in the lake southeast of Port Washington. In that incident, the diver was in the water alone, with three colleagues in a boat on the water's surface.