Tourist dies on Great Barrier Reef

Tourist dies on Great Barrier Reef

SYDNEY - A man died on Friday while diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, just days after two French tourists perished snorkelling in the same area, police said.

The Cairns Post said the latest victim was a 60-year-old from England who was travelling with his wife and who died diving on Agincourt Reef off the popular tourist resort of Port Douglas.

"We were called to Agincourt Reef after a man in his 60s suffered a medical condition. He is now deceased," a Queensland police spokesman told AFP, adding that he was believed to be British, but this was not confirmed.

The newspaper said he was a passenger on a tourist boat and was found without a regulator during a certified scuba dive with another person at the reef, 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Cairns.

Crew on the vessel tried to revive him with a defibrillator and contacted emergency services who flew a doctor to the reef, but attempts to resuscitate him failed.

His death followed the death of two elderly French tourists, who had pre-existing medical conditions, at Michaelmas Cay nearby earlier this week.

Officials said they had heart attacks with a cardiologist cited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation suggesting they were stung by jellyfish which caused their cardiac arrest.

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