Diver’s body found inside flooded, debris-filled old mine

BREWSTER, N.Y. – The body of a diver who went missing inside a flooded, debris-filled old mine north of New York City has been recovered.

Authorities say the body of 48-year-old Robert Thomas of Jersey City, New Jersey, was recovered Monday afternoon. Thomas was reported missing a day earlier at the site of the former Tilly Foster iron mine.

A state police dive team used sonar and camera equipment to find Thomas’s body at a depth of about 171 feet (52 metres).

Preliminary reports indicate the experienced diver may have become entangled in wires or cables on the bottom of the flooded mine shaft.

The old mine is littered with wrecked cars and trucks, old mining equipment and other debris. Reports say it was flooded after a major collapse in 1895 killed 13 miners.