This is the second death in May related to snorkeling off the Florida Keys
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NEED TO KNOW
- A 63-year-old Mississippi woman died after a snorkeling incident near the Mule Keys off Key West on May 26
- The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said foul play is not suspected and autopsy results are pending
- Another snorkeling-related death occurred earlier in the Florida Keys involving a 56-year-old North Carolina man
A 63-year-old Mississippi woman has died after a snorkeling incident in the Florida Keys.
Lecia Elizabeth Spriggs died following the incident on Tuesday, May 26, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) in Florida.
The MCSO said that she had been snorkeling near the Mule Keys, a group of uninhabited islets located off Key West, with a commercial company when she was found unresponsive in the water at around 1:30 p.m.
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The U.S. Coast Guard brought her to the shore. CPR was done on the woman, but she was unable to be revived.
Spriggs was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island, where she was pronounced dead.
The MCSO said in a statement that foul play did not “appear to be a factor” in the incident and that autopsy results are pending.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office and MCSO for comment on Saturday, May 30, but did not receive immediate responses.
The MCSO said its investigation into the incident is ongoing.
This isn’t the first snorkeling-related death to happen in the Florida Keys in May, according to the MCSO.
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On May 10, a 56-year-old man, identified as Benjamin Lee Millspaw from Belmont, N.C., also died after being found unconscious near Cottrell Key off Key West, the sheriff’s office said.
He had been with a commercial snorkel company at the time and was transported to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island, where he was also pronounced dead.
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