By:Andrew Coen
According to police, Lobue and three other divers went into the water near the century-old site of the Iberia shipwreck, about three miles off Atlantic Beach, at around 9:40 p.m. Lobue drowned, police said, when he lost his regulator and got tangled in his line shortly after 10 p.m.
One of the other divers, who was on the ocean floor looking for lobster, noticed that Lobue was not moving, and brought him up to the boat. There the diver performed CPR, while the skipper of the 42-foot dive boat called the headquarters of the Atlantic Beach Fire and Rescue Squad, police officials said. The divers were in contact with the rescue squad via radio as they raced back through Reynolds Channel, according to squad Chief Jonathan Kohan. "Our purpose was to get the vessel in as quick as possible," said Kohan.
When the boat arrived at rescue squad headquarters next to the Atlantic Beach Bridge, squad members attempted to resuscitate Lobue for three minutes before he was removed from the vessel and taken to nearby St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:37 p.m., according to Kohan.
The drowning was termed an accident, but an investigation is continuing, according to detectives.
In addition to the Atlantic Beach Fire and Rescue Squad, the Jones Beach Coast Guard station and the Nassau County Marine Division responded to the incident.
According to Kohan, it is not uncommon for divers to head into the ocean late at night. "People frequently do night dives, because there are some unique fish that come out at night," he said Kohan. "It is dangerous, but if you are with a dive master who knows what they are doing, you should come back safe."
Detectives in the county's Homicide Division searched for some of Lobue's lost scuba equipment last Friday, according to police officials.
Lobue, a computer technician who immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in 1972, is survived by a brother, Peter, 56, of Valley Stream, and an older sister, Maria Castronovo. A Mass was held July 3 at Holy Name of Mary Church in Valley Stream, and Lobue was interred at Greenfield Cemetery in Hempstead Village.
