Body of diver from Jersey City recovered from mine

JERSEY CITY – The body of Robert Thomas, 48, of Jersey City was recovered from the flooded former Tilly Foster iron mine in Putnam County on Nov. 20.
An experience scuba diver, he apparent dove into the mine earlier in the day, but media reports said a friend claimed he never came out.
“We lost a beautiful human being on Sunday,” Jersey City Cultural Affairs Director Christine Goodman on her Facebook page. “Bob Thomas was a wonderful supporter of our Jersey City arts community, which is how we met. Bob was such a kind soul, always full of hugs and laughs. Can’t believe he’s gone.”
An enterprise architect at MLB Advanced Media, he previously worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise as well as for IBM. He studied management information systems at the University of Buffalo. He lived in Buffalo prior to moving to Jersey City.
Thomas was both an experienced diver as well as familiar with the area where he was found, having done previous dives in that area.
This dive was supposed to have been for 90 minutes, and when he did not return, friends called the police.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department employed sophisticate sonar and deep water cameras to explore the mine shaft in search of Thomas, according to several news accounts. The mine shaft is about 600 feet deep. A team of first responders used a cable to recover his body, once it was located at about 170 feet below the surface.
Local officials said the floor of the mine shaft was littered with the wreckage of cars and rusted mining equipment, all with potential sharp edges that could have torn Thomas’ diving equipment.
An early assessment suggested that he may have become entangled with wires or cables near the bottom of the shaft.
The mine has a history of disaster. Thirteen people lost their lives there in 1985 when the mine collapsed.