WHITSUNDAYS, Australia (24 May 2008) — Two tourists who disappeared while scuba diving in the Whitsundays have been rescued. Police told CDNN the two divers, a 38-year-old British male and a 40-year-old American female, are in good condition after spending the night drifting in the ocean. Search authorities said a plane spotted the pair at about 9am in the ocean about 7.8 miles northwest of Bait Reef. One of seven helicopters searching for the missing tourists winched them aboard and took them to Hamilton Island. Yesterday at about 2:30pm, the crew of the Pacific Star launched a search when the divers failed to resurface as planned. Unable to find the divers, the captain of the Pacific Star notified authorities of a missing diver emergency. Officials responded immediately with a massive air and sea search that ultimately involved seven helicopters, three fixed-wing aircraft and several boats including the Pacific Star. Scuba diving accidents in which divers become separated from commercial dive boats, often in strong currents, have become common in recent years. Such accidents are often fatal due to the difficulty of finding scuba divers drifting in the open sea. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK | 
