Digby - Labour officials will soon start an investigation into the death of a commercial diver who went missing in the Bay of Fundy last week. The body of Steven Allan Moore of North Range, Digby County, was found by RCMP divers around 9:30 Sunday morning, three days after he went missing. They located the 40-year-old's body in a cove along the shoreline on Digby Neck.

Mr. Moore was involved in a commercial dive for sea urchins near Centreville, on Digby Neck. The matter is still being investigated by RCMP, but will be turned over to the Nova Scotia Labour Department, a staff member said Monday. Mr. Moore and three other divers entered the water at about 11 a.m. last Thursday. He did not return to the surface when he was expected and within minutes a search was begun by divers from the same boat and by another diver who was in the area. Fishing vessels also began a search.

Volunteers from the Digby search and rescue team walked shorelines. A Labrador helicopter from 14 Wing Greenwood, the Canadian Coast Guard cutter Westport and a Department of Fisheries and Oceans boat also joined in the search. Police would not say if Mr. Moore had become entangled, but did say that his body was stationary. No cause of death has been confirmed and an autopsy is being performed.

Labour Department investigators were called to the scene on the weekend by RCMP.

One investigator, Charles Pothier, would not comment on speculation that regulations governing diving safety had possibly been breached. "We're looking into that," he said Monday.

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the department has up to two years to lay a charge, which can carry fines of up to $250,000.