A tourist struggles to breathe and dies during a snorkeling trip in the Florida Keys

A 52-year-old tourist from Arkansas died during a snorkeling trip off Key West, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Gary Wayne Miller was with a commercial charter boat at the Eastern Dry Rocks reef. At about 2:26 p.m. Monday, Miller had trouble breathing in the water, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt.

Miller returned to the Sandie Cat catamaran and workers helped him aboard. He soon lost consciousness while on the boat.

Employees began CPR and took Miller to Conch Harbor Marina in Key West.

Miller, of Rogers, Arkansas, was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West, where he was pronounced dead.

Autopsy reports are pending, But foul play does not appear to be a factor in the death, Linhardt said.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.