Tillicum Diver Dies After Getting Caught In Fishing Line

TACOMA - A scuba diver who was helping clean the water underneath a pier as part of an Earth Day project died yesterday when she became entangled in fishing line near a tire reef while surfacing at Les Davis Pier on Ruston Way.

Authorities said Meghan Reehling, 42, of Tillicum, ran out of oxygen. She had been with several volunteer divers helping with a cleanup sponsored by Puget Soundkeepers Alliance.

Reehling had filled a bag with trash and told her diving partner she was headed back to shore, said police spokesman Jim Mattheis. When other divers found some of her diving equipment on the surface, they began to search for her. She was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma.

Police are ruling the incident an accident.