Cruise ship scuba diver dies in Milne Bay Province

A man said to be a diving instructor aboard a cruise ship has died while diving in Milne Bay waters on Monday.

Details remain sketchy but it has been confirmed his remains have been delivered to the Alotau Provincial Hospital.

The man, believed to be aged 34 and of white African origin is said to have taken a scuba diving party out at the Samarai Island stop and while all on his team surfaced yesterday morning, he did not.

Locals report the cruise ship launched a search party to locate him after it was realized he had gone missing on the dive and it would be at last an hour and a half later towards lunchtime Monday that locals would recover his remains still in full scuba gear.

He was loaded on the cruise ship who called into Alotau yesterday.

Dr Dale (Da-le) Frank, Director of Curative Health Services of the Milne Bay Health Authority today confirmed to us the body of a foreign diver was brought into their morgue facility early yesterday evening and they are working with the cruise ship agent to prepare him for transfer to Port Moresby where a proper postmortem will ensue.

Area Manager Bwanabwana LLG Robby Margam tells NBC News it was the first time in a while the cruise ship had made a stop at Samarai Island, and this was an unfortunate incident to have occurred.