Dayton-area man dies at Gilboa Quarry

6/22/2007

Van A. Losh

Southern Ohio Diving Academy web

GILBOA, Ohio - GILBOA, Ohio A 60-year-old certified diving instructor was declared dead this morning after an accident at the Gilboa Quarry, the third such incident in three months.

Emergency responders were called to the quarry at 10:54 this morning on a report of a diver in need of emergency medical help.

When a sheriff s deputy arrived, the victim was out of the water and CPR was being administered by emergency services personnel.

Van A. Losh, of West Alexandria, Ohio, a small town just west of Dayton, was transported by Life Flight to St. Rita s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, where he was pronounced dead.

The accident remains under investigation by the Putnam County Sheriff s Office.

In April, two divers from the Dayton area were pulled from the quarry after they encountered problems in the cold water and their regulators began icing up. Both were later pronounced dead at a Lima hospital.

In May, a Canadian man was treated in a hyperbaric chamber at Lima Memorial Hospital after getting in trouble while diving at the quarry, which is on old U.S. 224 in eastern Putnam County between Ottawa and Gilboa.

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