In the latest boat-separation incident, two male scuba divers spent almost 22 hours drifting off the Australian coast this weekend (18-19 April).
The buddy-pair, reported to be a 45-year-old from Brisbane and a 43-year-old based further south near Gold Coast, went missing off Point Lookout in the north of North Stradbroke, an island off Brisbane. According to one unconfirmed report, the men were an instructor and his student.
The divers’ disappearance prompted a multi-agency maritime search co-ordinated by Queensland emergency authorities.
The alarm was raised after the divers failed to return to their vessel at about 9.40 on Saturday morning, and a search and rescue operation was underway shortly after 10.30, involving Coast Guard and police air and water units.
The extended daylight search was suspended as night fell and resumed at first light today, with the divers spotted from the air by rescuers some 4km off the town of Main Beach at 7 this morning.
The divers are thought to have drifted some 25km south from their dive-site. Sea conditions in the area at the time were moderately rough, with shifting winds and a strengthening southward swell and current pattern.
The helicopter dropped a life-raft to the divers and they were picked up by a Queensland Police boat some 40 minutes later and taken ashore.
After being assessed by paramedics the men were taken to Gold Coast University Hospital for further checks and later returned home. No details have yet been released about the dive-boat or how the separation came about.
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