DATE: Tuesday, September 9, 1997            TAG: 9709090271

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: CAPE HATTERAS                     LENGTH:   23 lines

STRICKEN DIVER PRONOUNCED DEAD AT ALBEMARLE GENERAL HOSPITAL

A man diving off the Outer Banks on the Icy May dive boat died Saturday from a possible embolism, or diving bends, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Tony Anastasia, 33, of Baltimore was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m. Saturday at Albemarle General Hospital in Elizabeth City.

His body was sent to the medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill for an autopsy, hospital spokeswoman Bonnie McCrodden said.

Coast Guard spokesman Stephen Baker said that Anastasia had gone on a 140-foot dive that lasted 15 minutes.

The Icy May is owned by Dave Summers of Centerville, Va. Summers could not be reached Monday for further details.

Baker said Anastasia had no vital signs when the Coast Guard helicopter arrived at the scene 38 miles south of Cape Hatteras at noon. Crew members performed CPR on the man on the flight to Elizabeth City, he said. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT GENERAL FATALITY

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