RHODE ISLAND, USA (28 October 2002) -- Divers and beachcombers in Rhode Island searched again yesterday for signs of a Mansfield man missing for two days after diving near a shipwreck off Watch Hill, R.I. ''We're saying our prayers,'' said Irene Pasquale, wife of Joseph Pasquale, 50. ''We just want Joseph to come home safe and sound.'' A master scuba diver who served as an elected member of the Mansfield Board of Selectmen for six years in the 1990s, Pasquale was diving with two friends on Friday at a shipwreck 5 miles south of Watch Hill that he had explored in September, family members said. He signaled his friends that he was heading to the surface, but when the other divers emerged, they didn't see Pasquale. Efforts to locate him immediately failed, and the US Coast Guard began searching with boats and helicopters. After 28 hours, Coast Guard officials called off their search on Saturday night, saying that ''if Mr. Pasquale was on the surface, we would have detected him.'' The Coast Guard said it is still investigating. Led by one of his two sons, a diving crew searched the wreck and surrounding areas yesterday. The family also appealed to the public to watch for him at Westerly beaches. | | The wreck, about 120 feet below the surface, is not particularly well known, said Pasquale's older son, Robert. ''Not too many people go there because of the depth of the water and the location,'' he said. Friends and colleagues remained hopeful yesterday, but caught themselves referring to Pasquale in the past tense. A career human resources director who was recently laid off, Pasquale is also president of the local Lions' Club and a former member of the Navy reserves. In the 1990s, Pasquale brought years of experience as a member of the town's finance committee to the post of selectman when Mansfield was trying to accommodate a booming population, town officials said. |
