CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla – The Coast Guard, along with local and state agencies, has been searching for a missing 67-year old diver in the vicinity of Gasparilla Pass in Charlotte County, Fla., since 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach received a call at approximately 11:35 a.m. Saturday from the captain of a 27-foot vessel from Legacy Dive Charters of Southwest Florida reporting that one of the six divers aboard was missing. It was reported that the man had surfaced from a dive while the charter vessel was retrieving another diver, and when the boat went to pick him up he had disappeared.
Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach and Station Cortez, Fla., an HH60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., marine units from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Lee County Sheriff’s Officer, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Boca Grande Fire and Rescue and Captiva Island Fire and Rescue are searching the area for the missing diver.
The diver’s name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification. The man was reported to be wearing a black and blue wet suit with yellow fins and an air tank.
Weather conditions for the area are 2-3-foot seas, 5-10 knot winds and 10-mile visibility.
