CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Coast Guard has been searching for a missing scuba diver 21 miles west of John’s Pass in Clearwater since about 1 p.m., Saturday.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., received a call at 12:49 p.m., Saturday, from a crewmember aboard the 24-foot recreational vessel Lori’s Other Half reporting that a 29-year-old male had not surfaced from a dive.
An HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, a 47-foot utility boat from Station Sand Key, Fla., the St. Petersburg-based Coast Guard Cutter Alligator, an 87-foot patrol boat, and a Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft 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 an experienced diver and was wearing a black wet suit with black fins and a silver air tank.
Weather conditions for the area are 1- to- 2-foot seas, 5- to- 10-knot winds and 10 mile visibility.
