An autopsy was performed Thursday in a New York state hospital to determine the cause of death of a Kingston scuba diver pulled from the St. Lawrence River.
Michael K. Roberts, 39, a guard at Kingston Penitentiary, was pronounced dead just after noon on Wednesday despite efforts by U.S. Coast Guard staff to resuscitate him.
Roberts had been diving lamp with two other men on the wreck of the Roy A. Jodrey off Wellesley Island near Alexandria Bay, N.Y.
Police had not released the autopsy results by press time.
"Something happened down there. They were not down a lot of time," said Sean Sulski, Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate in charge of the coast guard station at Alexandria Bay.
The other divers were Blair Mott, of Komoka, Ont., and Christopher Monk, of Aurora.
About halfway through the two-hour dive, Roberts got into some kind of trouble and Mott came to his assistance, according to an unidentified friend of Mott's quoted in the London Free Press.
Roberts was also local president of the guards' union at Kingston Penitentiary who worked closely with Jason Godin, regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
"I knew he was a diver. It was one of his passions," said Godin.
"He used to do a lot of diving on the Kingston wrecks. He certainly wasn't new to it."
The Jodrey is a 230-metre-long steel freighter that sank in 1972 after hitting a shoal near Alexandria Bay.
The wreck is only recommended for experienced divers with a high level of training.
The ship's bow is in 50 metres of water and the stern is down about 80 metres.
Two U.S. Coast Guard boats were returning from training exercises on the river just before noon when they received an emergency call from the charter dive boat Shaleka J., which operates out of the Rockport Dive Centre.
Crew on the first coast guard boat looked over to see a diver waving in distress about 30 metres from the station dock.
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