Briton dies on diving trip with boyfriend
A BRITISH holidaymaker has drowned while scuba diving in Albania.
Rebecca Gannon, 29, died while swimming with her boyfriend on Monday.
Miss Gannon, from Stone in Staffordshire, got into difficulty on a trip off the coast of Saranda with Robert Kerans, her boyfriend of four years.
Both Miss Gannon and Mr Kerans were experienced divers and held PADI diving certificates.
Mr Kerans said in a statement obtained by MailOnline: ‘Rebecca and I arrived at the centre and we filled in a form.
‘There must have been about 12 of us all together and there were three instructors – one of whom spoke very good English and who I know now is Gerta Brozi.
‘She checked the equipment but she didn’t seem to pay much attention. I know that there was a problem with Rebecca’s regulator but Gerta said it had been solved.
‘We went into the water but I don’t know if the problem was fixed. We had gone quite deep and one of the group had pressure problems and came to the surface. I couldn’t see Rebecca when I was in the water as the visibility wasn’t very good.
‘I must have been in the water for about 25 minutes and when I surfaced I saw a police boat close to us and that’s when I realised something bad had happened.’
Mr Kerans, who is originally from Norway, lived in Staffordshire with Miss Gannon, who he is believed to have met in New Zealand.
Albanian police have since arrested the owner of the Spiranca Diving Centre, 45-year-old Saimir Kushova. He is due to appear in court today on suspicion of violating work health and safety rules and employing a non- qualified dive instructor, Miss Brozi.
Miss Gannon’s sister Sam told MailOnline: ‘It is devastating. We are heartbroken. She’s my little sister. I can’t believe it.’
Videos posted on Albanian news websites show a body being carried from a boat with paramedics waiting on land.
Other witnesses said Mr Kushova dived into the water to help Miss Gannon alongside other members of the group. Miss Brozi, who co- owns the diving centre and was on the boat, said: ‘We really don’t know what happened and are waiting for the police to finish the investigation.’
She added: ‘[Rebecca] had been in the water for ten minutes and then she got into difficulty. There had been an issue with a regulator before but it was changed and was working fine.
‘The next thing we knew, Saimir had spotted she was in trouble and dived in to try to rescue her.’