Four foreign divers who failed to surface off Sattahip on Friday were found alive the same night. They walked ashore at Nam Sai Beach in Samae San.
A water rescue team from the Sawang Rojana foundation reported the find at 8.30pm. Soldiers had joined the search by then, and all four came out of it unhurt.
The dive that went wrong
The boat, Jer Por Dee Tour, left Wara Sin bridge at Samae San shortly before 10am. It was carrying eight tourists and five dive instructors.
They headed for a site divers know as Rong Khon Rong Nang. Officials have not confirmed its exact position.
Four of the tourists went down for technical diving training. They were due back on the surface at 3pm.
Nothing came up. The instructors circled the area in the boat and found no sign of them.
The crew then alerted the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre and the Chonburi maritime command centre. Sattahip district chief Nattawut Anuyotha went to question the caller and assess what was needed.
The other four tourists on board had been diving in shallower water and were never in trouble. The captain took them back to shore, then turned the boat around to rejoin the search.
Boats from other dive operators in the area went out to help as well.
All four were certified divers
Supitcha Karnkid, 45, the wife of one of the divers, said the group was experienced and that some of them are dive instructors themselves.
“All four have a lot of diving experience and some are already instructors,” she said. “This time they came to learn extra skills, so I am confident they are advanced divers, not beginners.”
She was not on the boat. She said the divers were meant to send a marker up at the agreed time. The captain would then know where they were about to surface.
No marker appeared. That was when the captain and the others on board started looking.
What is still unknown
All four missing divers are men. One is British and two are American, and the nationality of the fourth had not been confirmed.
Their names and ages were still being checked on Friday night. So were the coordinates of the dive site and the depth they had been working at.
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