North Carolina man dies after snorkeling incident near Key West

A North Carolina man died after being pulled unconscious from the water near Key West during a snorkeling trip with a commercial company, adding another tragic entry to a year in which Monroe County waters have already seen repeated emergencies.

Benjamin Lee Millspaw, 56, of Belmont, North Carolina, was found in the water near Cottrell Key around noon Sunday, May 11, 2026, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said he had been snorkeling with a commercial snorkel company. The sheriff’s office said foul play is not believed to be involved, and autopsy results were still pending.

The death fits a pattern that has kept local rescue crews, hospital staff and marine responders busy across the Florida Keys. A woman died after being found unconscious while snorkeling off Key West in October 2025. An 81-year-old Indiana man died after being found unresponsive while snorkeling off Key West in July 2025, and another man lost consciousness while snorkeling off Key Largo in March 2025. Those incidents have sharpened attention on what happens when a person goes down in open water, where a few lost seconds can determine whether a rescue succeeds.

The Keys’ economy helps explain why these cases hit so close to home. Monroe County says tourism supports long-term economic stability, and county data show visitors spent $3.5 billion in 2023. Key West accounted for $1.3 billion, or 52.2% of total visitor spending in the county. A county tourism fact sheet says visitor spending directly supports 19,000 jobs and generated $173 million in local taxes. NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries says recreation-tourism is the region’s most important industry and makes up roughly 33% to 75% of the local economy, depending on how it is measured.

That dependence on the water is part of the region’s identity, but it also raises the stakes when a snorkeler becomes unresponsive offshore. The sheriff’s office response, the pending autopsy and the commercial nature of the outing all point to the same reality in Monroe County: a routine recreational trip can turn into a medical emergency in moments, even on a guided excursion near Key West.