UPDATE: Cambridge mayor dies after heart attack during Umkomaas dive
He was an experienced scuba diver and underwater photographer.
A British diver who died after he went into cardiac arrest shortly after surfacing in Umkomaas on Friday afternoon, 11 January has been identified as the mayor of Cambridge, Nigel Gawthorpe.
READ ALSO: Diver suffers cardiac arrest, dies in Umkomaas
The Cambridge City Council shared a media statement on its website on Sunday, 13 January, confirming Gawthorpe’s sudden and tragic death at lunchtime on Friday, following a dive off Durban in South Africa.
“The council’s thoughts are with the his wife Jenny, the Mayoress, who was with him, and with his family and friends and close council colleagues as they come to terms with this devastating loss. The exact cause of Cllr Gawthorpe’s death has yet to be confirmed,” reads the statement.
Gawthorpe was a city councillor for seven years, having been first elected in 2012 to represent King’s Hedges ward and was re-elected in 2016. In May 2018, councillors unanimously voted to elect him as Mayor of Cambridge for the current municipal year to May 2019. His death came eight months into his term of office.
He was an experienced scuba diver and underwater photographer, and was on a diving holiday in South Africa at the time of his death.
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