Scuba Divers Perish Inside Florida Wreck

Authorities have recovered the bodies of two divers who died Friday while exploring the wreckage of a sunken U.S. military ship off the Florida Keys.

The bodies had been trapped in the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove, which serves as an artificial reef on the ocean floor. A third diver, who was pulled from the water Friday, died at a hospital. A fourth member of the party, who had stayed out of the wreck, swam to the surface when he ran low on air and called for help for the others.

It remains unclear how exactly the three men, all from New Jersey, died Friday. Officials say the men didn't take enough air tanks with them and didn't have a dive plan. They also didn't have dive reels to show them the way back out of the wreck.

Authorities identified the divers as Kevin Coughlin, 51, of Chatham Borough and Jonathan Walsweer, 38, and Scott Stanley of Westfield. Stanley's age was not known.

The men were attempting what is called a "penetration dive," venturing into compartments inside a wreck.

Lt. Don Fanelli of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said, "The nature of the dive is more treacherous."

The ship is one of the most popular diving spots in the Keys.

The U.S.S. Spiegel Grove is one of the most popular diving spots off the Florida Keys. The retired 510-foot ship, which was due to be sunk to serve as an artificial reef, prematurely sank and rolled over May 17, 2002, in 134 feet of water about eight miles off the Florida coast.

Diver James Lane described a penetration dive to CBS station WFOR: "It's dark. And it's dangerous. Diving is dangerous when you go out near these wrecks and you got to put your life in your own hands. There's no one to hold your hand down there."

On Saturday, divers from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Key Largo Fire Rescue recovered the bodies of Borough and Walsweer, who were located deep inside the Spiegel Grove. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the United States Coast Guard assisted in the efforts.

One body was brought to the surface just before noon and the second just before 4 p.m. Both of them were transported to the Islamorada Coast Guard Station.

Both bodies are being transported to Key West so the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office can perform autopsies to determine the cause of their deaths.

A local dive captain told WFOR correspondent Dave Malkoff that the divers were experienced. "Sometimes it's better to be a beginner because you are more careful."

He said there must have been a moment when the trapped divers knew they were going to die.

"Imagine yourself being down there, 140 feet, 130 feet, and you don't have no more air and you're sucking on your regulator and there's no air and you don't find you way out. So it's a very painful situation before you pass out."

The divers started out from Scuba-Do, a one-boat operation in Key Largo.