Coast Guard searches for missing diver south of Cameron, Louisiana

Coast Guard Cutter Beluga file photo

Coast Guard Cutter Beluga file photo

CAMERON, Louisiana — The Coast Guard is searching for a diver that went missing Friday afternoon approximately 35 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana.

Missing is Chet Castle, a male in his mid 40s. He was last seen wearing a black wetsuit with orange fins.

At 4 p.m., a Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, Alabama, HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew overheard a mayday call on VHF marine band channel 16, reporting a diver that had gone spearfishing off a boat with a friend and did not resurface.

Aircrews responded aboard a Coast Guard Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and an Ocean Sentry airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi. Crews from the Coast Guard Cutter Beluga and Coast Guard Cutter Harry Claiborne are also aiding search efforts for the diver.

The Beluga is an 87-foot patrol boat and the Harry Claiborne is a 175-foot coastal buoy tender; both are homeported in Galveston, Texas.


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