The Philippine Coast Guard terminated on Thursday afternoon its underwater search for a British national who was reported missing after failing to return home from diving on Tuesday, April 22, in Dauin, Negros Oriental.
Lt. Marionne Abigail Enopia, Coast Guard-Negros Oriental station commander, announced the termination after two days of futile dives by their personnel and other volunteer scuba divers.
However, she said they would continue “surface search operations for the missing individual with coastal patrols while coordinating with our counterparts as far as Mindanao”.
She declined to say whether the British national, 44-year-old Mark David Morris, had died while diving as “we cannot speculate without any evidence”.
Two dives were conducted by the Coast Guard on Thursday, alongside scuba divers from the local and provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Bantay Dagat, and civilian volunteers, including foreigners, from nearby resorts and dive shops.
Technical divers from Silver Reef Resort also conducted a third dive on the same day but to no avail.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Niño Pimentel, acting commander of the Coast Guard Special Action Group, said there was moderate to strong underwater current southward during the past days of their search.
From search-and-rescue operations on Wednesday, the Coast Guard officers announced shifting to search-and-retrieval operations the next day as hopes dimmed for the missing foreigner to be rescued.
Meanwhile, the chief investigator of the Dauin police station, Charlie Dellona, said that based on further investigation, it appears that Morris went diving alone at around 3 p.m. Tuesday.
A witness had seen him headed towards the sea with scuba diving gear.
Dellona said the police stations have also been alerted about the missing foreigner.*PNA