Indiana woman dies after diving at popular shipwreck off Key West
A woman from Indiana died Thursday morning at a Key West hospital after scuba diving a popular shipwreck off Key West.
The woman, Rebecca Butler Power, 59, was diving from a local dive boat around 10:30 a.m. with her husband during a 100-foot dive on the USS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Power, from Mishawaka, went into distress during the dive, according to a sheriff’s office incident report, and was taken to U.S. Coast Guard Sector Key West.
From there, she was taken to the Lower Keys Medical Center, where doctors pronounced her dead.
The Vandenberg was intentionally sunk in May 2009 to be a dive tourism attraction six miles off Key West.
The 523-foot-long ship served as both a U.S. Navy and Air Force vessel. It used to monitor the NASA space launches in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s off Cape Canaveral.
It rests in 140 feet of water within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, according to the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
Butler’s death is the second dive fatality on the Vandenberg since August.
Due to incomplete information provided by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the victim’s full name was not included in the original report.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 5:15 PM.
