Two divers remain missing after an extensive search last week near Peleliu in Palau.
A spokesman for Palau’s Ministry of Justice on Tuesday said a 62-year-old Singaporean man and a 43-year-old woman were diving from the M/Y Black Pearl, a luxury liveaboard yacht.
At 8:45 a.m. Sept. 8, authorities were called after the two failed to surface with 12 other divers in their group.
The ministry immediately dispatched a boat to help. The five-day search involved boats, aircraft, law enforcement, state rangers, and the U.S. Coast Guard from Guam. It ended at 6 p.m. Friday.
The spokesman said the area where the divers went missing, the Peleliu Wall, is a popular dive site. But currents are fast and strong, and the water is deep, making the destination suitable for experienced divers only.
He said the two missing divers were reportedly “very experienced,” and a divemaster accompanies each group of six divers in the water.
The divemaster told investigators that when the larger group of divers were surfacing, the two missing divers were not with them, so the divemaster went to check on them. He indicated that they needed to surface because air was running out, and they gave him the thumbs-up sign.
The divemaster ascended, then realized the two were not behind him.
“They continued to go down. So he went back again to try to chase them, but just kept on going down,” the Justice Ministry spokesman said. He said the water is “maybe more than 1,000 feet deep.”
