Woman dies during diver training

Massachusetts resident was in Brodie Pond

NEW HARTFORD — A 51year-old woman from East Longmeadow, Mass., died Sunday after a scuba diving accident at West Hill Pond, in Brodie Park in New Hartford.

State Trooper Tanya Compagnone said the victim, Carol R. Driscoll, was taking scuba lessons from a private diving company on Saturday at the pond.

She was training to be certified for a deep water certification, police said in a statement provided Saturday.

Driscoll failed to resurface from a deep dive, police report, and the scuba instructor, whose name has not been released, brought Driscoll to the surface. She was not responding, according to a state police statement, and CPR was performed.

Troopers from Troop B barracks in Canaan, the New Hartford constable and the New Hartford Volunteer Ambulance service responded to the emergency call of a diver in distress, state police said.

Driscoll was taken to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, according to police, and was transferred later Saturday to Hartford Hospital by Lifestar helicopter.

She was pronounced dead about 7 a.m. Sunday.

Mike Granoth, commander of the Region 5 Dive Team, a regional search and scuba team, which serves portions of Litchfield County and Greater Waterbury, said West Hill Pond is “very popular with divers. It has lots of rocks and obstacles and it has very good visibility.”

The Region 5 Dive team was not involved with the rescue of Driscoll, but Granoth said a scuba trainer would have to have many years of experience to provide certification lessons for deep water dives.