Clifford Ireland, NSRI Durban station commander, said; “On Friday, 08th February, at 10h12, NSRI Durban volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following reports from a local dive company of a scuba diver missing during a charter dive at Blood Reef, approximately 1.5 nautical miles off-shore of The Bluff, Durban.
“An off-duty NSRI volunteer who was nearby on the water at the time in his private boat ALICE responded.
“Our NSRI Durban volunteer sea rescue duty crew launched our sea rescue craft MEGAN II and on arrival on-scene the body of the missing female diver had been located under water by the Dive Master of the dive charter and the body was brought to the surface and recovered onto our sea rescue craft at 10h42 and brought to our sea rescue base in Durban where the body was confirmed to be deceased by paramedics and handed into the care of the Police.
“Police have opened an inquest docket and the name of the deceased female has not been released and the cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.
“It appears that the diver was taking part in a charter dive when, according to reports, the female diver went missing while scuba diving and the alarm was raised while the fellow divers and the Dive Master launched a dive search.
“The deceased is a 50 year old female from Durban. The family are being attended to by trauma counsellors.”
