The body of a male scuba diver who went missing on the wreck of the Zenobia in Cyprus yesterday was found inside the wreck at 11 this morning (27 October).
The search was reported on Divernet earlier today. The air and sea operation, overseen by Larnaca Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC), had resumed after being paused overnight.
Experienced dive-teams from the Port & Maritime Police (Coast Guard), Police Air Operations Unit and the National Guard’s Underwater Demolition Unit took part in what the JRCC described as a long underwater search, with help provided by volunteer divers from some of the island’s many dive-centres.
“Due to the nature of the underwater operations, the JRCC Larnaca expresses its gratitude to all the teams involved, who responded immediately and contributed with their professionalism to the recovery of the missing diver,” said the JRCC.
The diver and a buddy were originally reported to have entered the sea at around 10am, with the buddy later returning to raise the alarm. However, according a new report in the Cyprus Mail, the man might have been escorting a couple on the dive, and sent them up first.
Whoever surfaced first had been unconcerned at first, and the alarm had been raised only later when the instructor failed to surface to schedule. Video footage from the dive had shown him giving ascent signals while on the wreck.
The paper described the part of the Zenobia where the body was found as being “rarely visited”. JRCC commander Andreas Charalambides, quoted in a Sigma TV interview, stated that the diver might have become disorientated and “ended up there by accident”.
“It seems he was in a state of time-pressure and panic,” said Charalambides. “The conditions in the wreck are not easy, there is a lack of visibility and it can be hard to find the exit.” He also suggested that certain areas of the wreck might need to be prohibited in future.
The diver has yet to be identified. According to an earlier report he was a 66-year-old British instructor, although a more recent report, in the Financial Mirror, stated that he was an Irish, and also that the body was found in the engine-room.
The number of diver deaths that have occurred at the site since the Zenobia sank in 1980 is thought to be between six and eight.
I’ve dived Zenobia a few times soon after it sank. It has been made a lot safer since then but it can still be very disorientating . Don’t go in without a fixed line.
You know it makes sense.