A British diving instructor has been shot dead during an armed robbery in the Bahamas.
Gary Vanhoeck, 51, was accosted on the boat on which he lived by two men last Friday, Royal Bahamas police said.
The intruders, armed with handguns, demanded cash before firing at Vanhoeck and fleeing on foot at around 10pm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Tribune newspaper reported that Vanhoeck’s wife was tied up during the incident but unharmed.
Police said they sought four men in connection with the incident at Stuart Cove’s diving centre on the north-west side of New Providence, the island that is also home to the capital Nassau.
On his blog, Vanhoeck, originally from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, wrote that he had quit his job to “head halfway around the world to start a new life teaching diving”.
The Mail reported that Vanhoeck was living with his wife on the Caribbean island, where he had been for five years.
He wrote on his blog: “The adventures of a diving instructor, or better known as ‘the mid life crisis’,” – that they were “living like pirates, diving in the Caribbean”.
Vanhoeck’s brother Wayne told Sky News: “Gary was a fantastic brother and friend. He was living his dream. He didn’t deserve to die that way.
“We’re devastated. It’s such a shock to us all. The whole family is absolutely devastated.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in the Bahamas. We are providing the family with consular assistance at this very difficult time.”
The Bahamian tourism minister, Obie Wilchcombe, told the Tribune that he was concerned crime was ruining the island’s reputation with tourists. The newspaper said there had been 48 homicides so far this year.
Just over a year ago, 56-year-old Briton Edgar Dart was killed during a struggle with robbers who broke into his mother’s home on Grand Bahama.
