DEVON, UK (14 Aug 2008) — Authorities have called off the search for a 14-year-old boy who disappeared on Tuesday while scuba diving at Berry Head in Devon. Authorities told CDNN that Louis Price, of Newport in South Wales, went missing while scuba diving with his father off an inflatable boat. Both resurfaced without problem but were not able to swim back to the boat. Three people on the boat, including the boy's mother, aunt and uncle, saw the divers but were not able to start the vessel's engine. Meanwhile, the father flagged down the charter boat Jennifer Ann but the boy vanished beneath the ocean's surface before it could reach the divers. Jennifer Ann Captain Rick Parker, 44, pulled the father onboard, alerted rescue authorities of a missing diver emergency and started searching for the boy. "I put out a mayday and began cruising around looking for the boy," Parker said. "The father was obviously distraught." Authorities launched a massive search at about 2:00pm that involved five RNLI liveboats, 13 private vessels and helicopters operated by the police, Navy and Coastguard. After failing to find the boy on Wednesday, rescue officials announced that the rescue mission had become an effort to recover the body of the missing diver. | | A 14-year-old scuba diver is missing and presumed dead. A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Unfortunately due to the fact that more than 24 hours have elapsed [since he disappeared], the police and Coastguard have decided that there is nothing further that can be done at this stage." |
