November 21, 2006 SEATTLE – One of two Coast Guard divers who mysteriously died during a training dive in the Arctic last summer sank uncontrollably as far as 190 feet below the icy surface and suffocated, according to an autopsy summary obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The divers had slipped into a patch of open water near the Coast Guard Cutter Healy’s bow and were planning to dive to a maximum depth of 20 feet, said William Hill Jr., whose daughter Lt. Jessica Hill, along with Boatswain’s Mate Steven Duque, died Aug. 17, 500 miles north of Alaska.
The two died Aug. 17 about 500 miles north of Alaska, and the results of two Coast Guard investigations into the matter are not expected to be released until next year. A spokesman for the Coast Guard said Tuesday the agency was not releasing any information on the autopsy.
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