LANCASTER, Pennsylvania (7 Feb 2009) — A former Bethlehem resident on a diving excursion along the Great Barrier Reef off Australia spent seven hours (drifting at sea) before she and her diving buddy, also an American tourist, were rescued Friday. The two tourists went missing Friday morning while diving northeast of Queensland near Lizard Island, raising fears that they might share the fate of an American couple who vanished while diving in the same area 11 years ago -- a tragedy that inspired the movie ''Open Water.'' But Harry Turner said the U.S. consulate in Sydney called him at his home near Lititz, Lancaster County, to say his wife, Michele Turner, was one of two people rescued. He said he didn't know who the other diver was, but thought he might be a member of the Lancaster Scuba Center, which planned the group trip aboard the luxury dive boat Spoilsport operated by Mike Ball Dive Expeditions. Turner said his wife, who is 42, had been on more than 30 dives before this trip and had longed to explore the clear, shallow waters of the Great Barrier Reef. He said he spoke with her Friday morning (Eastern Standard Time) after her ordeal through a bad phone connection for about 10 minutes, then called her parents, Bernard and Janet Droney of Bethlehem. ''She was very calm and happy she was OK,'' Turner said. ''She was obviously glad it was over, but she still has another week to go with diving. So she's heading back to the boat today.'' He said he expects his wife to return home Feb. 16 as planned. Turner said he and her parents didn't know she was missing until after she had been found, so they didn't experience the emotional trauma of the hours-long search. The two divers were exploring Ribbon Reef No. 10 near Lizard Island when they became separated from the boat around 10 a.m. Friday, which was 7 p.m. Thursday here. ''She said when they went to come up, they couldn't find the tow line and they just surfaced and there wasn't a boat around,'' Turner said. ''They had their safety sausages [emergency gear], so they just treaded water.'' Bernard Droney said his daughter frequents Dutch Springs in Lower Nazareth Township and also travels the world for her hobby. He said she graduated from Freedom High School and East Stroudsburg University and is a manager at Lancaster Laboratories. She has always been adventurous, he said. When she was a child, she sought the fastest amusement park rides. Droney said the current apparently swept her and her partner away. Mishaps like the one that befell his daughter must be expected, he said, ''if you're going to live for the exciting stuff. Â… She loves this. She has swum with sharks before.'' A massive search was under way by midday Friday along the north coast of Queensland. Around 5 p.m., a helicopter spotted the pair treading water about eight nautical miles from where they had last been seen. ''As dark was approaching, we were all getting very apprehensive,'' expedition operator Mike Ball said. ''The odds of finding someone in the water at night tend to get quite slim.'' | 
