PEMBA ISLAND, Zanzibar, Tanzania (20 July 2005) -- PADI scuba instructor Neil Clark and four Danish tourists participating in a PADI Gold Palm scuba diving certification course at Swahili Divers are presumed dead four days after they went missing. Police told CDNN they speculate the divers were swept away by strong currents off Misali Island which is located off Pemba Island in Zanzibar, a region with no official marine emergency response system. The five missing divers were part of a Swahili Divers boat diving group that included 14 divers. The divers split up into two groups that eventually separated underwater. The last time the missing divers were seen was 20 minutes into the dive at a depth of 12 meters. When the divers failed to return to the boat, the captain notified Swahili Divers of a missing diver emergency and the company immediately organized a search utilizing local boats and two small airplanes. Later police and a special anti-smuggling unit joined the rescue effort along with government helicopters and aircraft deployed by Tanzania and Kenya. Authorities also asked local fishermen to search for the divers. | | PADI scuba diving instructor Neil Clark who went missing with four Danish tourists participating in a PADI Gold Palm scuba certification course at Swahili Divers. So far, searchers have only found a BCD. Police identified the missing Danes as Dannie Schov and her two sons, Gabriel and Simon Lowestan, and Lisse Lotte. Missing PADI instructor Neil Clark is a Canadian from Vancouver, British Columbia. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
