A diver’s recent death in an underwater coal mine in Japan has resulted in the suspension of diving at the mine, according to news reports.
The submerged coal mine was the site of a disaster in 1942 where 183 people were killed, which included 136 Korean forced laborers.
The Taiwanese diver, identified in news reports as Wei Hsu, or Victor Hsuwei, was participating in a volunteer effort to recover the remains of the perished coal mine workers.
Wei Hsu was reportedly diving with a closed-circuit rebreather, and one of the suspected — but not yet confirmed — reasons for his death was oxygen toxicity. He reportedly suffered convulsions and blacked out while underwater, and had to be brought back to the surface by his dive buddies.
The diver was taken to the hospital and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
