Andrea Doria Dive Site – Trimix Diver’s Body Recovered

A diver died while exploring the wreck of the Andrea Doria off Nantucket on Sunday. The body of Michael A. LaPrade, 27, of California was brought ashore to the Montauk Coast Guard station near midnight Sunday night.

East Hampton Town Police Chief Edward V. Ecker Jr. said on Tuesday that Mr. LaPrade disappeared while diving along with two others from aboard the John Jack, a New Jersey-based boat that takes deep-sea divers out from Montauk in the summer.

“The wreck is dangerous, but it’s just so deep,” Chief Ecker said. Divers need to use “tri-mixes” of gases in “all kinds of equations” to survive. “You have to know what you’re doing; there’s no real room for mistakes,” he said. The chief said he had personally responded to numerous deaths among Andrea Doria divers, including several aboard the Seeker, also out of Montauk.

Chief Ecker said his understanding was that on Sunday, there were three divers going down at the same time, with Mr. LaPrade “the last one in line.” When they got down about 225 feet below the surface, Chief Ecker said, the other two could no longer find him. Continue Reading…

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