Diplomat killed in diving accident

Diplomat killed in diving accident

BANGKOK (Reuter): An economic and commercial officer at the Swedish embassy in Bangkok was killed when he was cut by the propeller of a tour boat while on a diving trip, an embassy official said yesterday.

The man was severely cut up by the propeller when he jumped into the water from the rear of boat while the engine was on, embassy official Ogen Rosden said in a telephone interview from Phuket, about 650 kilometers south of Bangkok.

The dead man, whose name was withheld, was part of a 20-member tourist group on a diving trip near the Similan Islands about 40 kilometers from the southern Thai resort of Phuket.

"It was an accident since the man said before he died that it was his fault he jumped from the boat while the engine was on," Rosden said.