A diver who died off the coast of North Cape yesterday passed away shortly after surfacing without his gear, police say.
The 56-year-old from Whangarei was diving in the Waikuku Beach area about noon yesterday when the alarm was raised by his diving buddies.
He had been diving in about 10m of water, a police spokeswoman said.
"He surfaced and they brought him on the boat but he died at the scene," she said.
There were four in the dive party, made up of three divers and the skipper of the boat.
It was not yet known if the other divers had been in the water or in the boat at the time the man surfaced, the spokeswoman said.
The man's body has been transported to Auckland for a post mortem examination to help investigators determine what happened.
The police dive squad was also searching the water for the man's dive gear in the hope it will provide key information.
"We don't know what happened, that's why we've got the dive squad going down to look for his gear, so they can ascertain what may have happened," the spokeswoman said.
She also thanked a number of local people who provided police with a boat to reach the area where the diver and his friends were yesterday.
- By Patrice Dougan of APNZ
