Tributes have been paid to a British woman who died in a scuba diving accident. George and Gill Gannon were watching the Queen's funeral when they received a knock on the door and were told 29-year-old Rebecca had died in Albania.
As reported by Stoke-on-TrentLive, the young woman had been travelling with her boyfriend. Her bereft parents learned their ‘Beccie’ had died in a diving accident.
Beccie had reportedly noticed something wrong with her scuba gear and asked for it to be changed before going on the dive down to an old wreck. George, 61, said it’s understood Beccie and boyfriend Robert Per Kerans dived in but within five minutes, she came back up ‘panicking and asking for help’ while 20 yards away from the boat.
An expert had apparently jumped in to save Beccie, but she went back down again. He also believes the instructor tried to bring her back to life but nothing could be done to save her.
Now, as he and Beccie’s brother Joey were preparing to fly out to Albania, George has told StokeonTrentLive of the stomach-wrenching moment he was informed of his daughter’s death. “I was numb. We are a very close family and it’s left a massive hole," he said.
“She was a fit girl. She didn’t drink, smoke or do anything wrong, we are all heartbroken. I last saw her on Friday, the week before, when she dropped her dog off with us. Joey and Beccie were almost like twins because they were close in age.”
Beccie and her boyfriend Robert had been at the Spiranca Diving Centre near the town of Sarande, in Albania. It is believed they were planning to dive to the offshore wreck of an Italian cargo ship, the Probitas.
According to her family, Beccie, who worked at Drac Logistics in Stone and lived in Stafford, had been on a mission to visit 50 countries before she reached the age of 30.
Joey, 28, who lives in Stone, says the family are in touch with the embassy in Albania and hope for Beccie’s body to be flown home next week. Paying tribute to his sister, Joey said: “She was the kindest, bravest and most intelligent person in our family. She was an extremely hard worker.
“She was the most lovable person you could ever want to meet. She was beautiful inside and out."
