Two French tourists have died after suffering suspected heart attacks while on a snorkelling trip north of Cairns.

Dive company Passions of Paradise said that the man and woman, who were not related, were among a group of 21 elderly French tourists on a tour at Michaelmas Cay on Wednesday.

Inspector Peter Mansfield of Cairns police said the 74-year-old woman entered the water around 10.45am as part of a guided group but was spotted floating motionless a short time later.

She was then brought back on to the boat but could not be revived.

“While that was happening ... the 76-year-old man was observed also unconscious in the water,” the inspector said in Cairns.

“He was taken to shore and CPR attempted, but that was also unsuccessful,” adding that the pair were probably in the water “less than 10 minutes”.

Police said their next of kin were also on the boat, and were assisting with inquiries.

Col McKenzie, executive director of the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, said the pair suffered sudden medical issues.



“I just don’t know what it was; however, from what I was told, it would lead you to believe that they probably had heart attacks,” he told Associated Australian Press.

“I do know that the woman was on some pretty severe medications as well.”

Crew members tried to revive the pair, but they both died at the scene.

“They had pre-existing medical conditions and were accompanied by a guide when they were in the water,” said Scotty Garden, Passions of Paradise chief executive, in a statement.

A third French tourist also got into difficulties but survived.

McKenzie described it as a “perfect storm”.

“Crew on the Passions boat worked to save them all, including CPR and using oxygen, but tragically two are dead,” he told the Cairns Post.

“There was a doctor onboard the nearby Ocean Spirit who declared them dead.”

The company had taken more than 400,000 tourists to the reef since it began operating in 1989, McKenzie said. One other fatality had occurred during a tour in 1997, when an 80-year-old died from a heart problem.

