CORRECTION: The previous press release incorrectly stated all three men aboard the Yellowfin were diving. Only Ryan Myers and Jeffrey Wayne Pries were diving. The third man remained aboard the vessel. Please disregard the previous press release and use this one instead. We apologize for any inconvenience.
ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – The Coast Guard is continuing to search Tuesday for the diver who was reported missing during a dive Monday morning about 24 miles east of Ponce De Leon Inlet in New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
Missing is Ryan Myers, 28, of Maitland, Fla.
The crew of the Atlantic Beach-based Coast Guard Cutter Diamondback and a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., H-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew are currently searching the area. The crew of an Air Station Clearwater-based C-130 Hercules plane is en route. Additionally, a boatcrew aboard a 45-foot Response Boat – Medium from Station Ponce De Leon Inlet is providing a safety escort for a group of private citizens who organized a dive search of the area.
Involved in the search so far have been two Hercules aircrews and two Jayhawk helicopter crews from Air Station Clearwater, an RB-M boatcrew from Station Ponce De Leon Inlet, and crews from the Coast Guard Cutters Diamondback and Sitkinak.
The search began after one of the people aboard the vessel Yellowfin notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville at 11:09 a.m. Monday that Myers dived from the boat with 30 minutes of oxygen in his tank about 40 minutes prior and was not seen resurfacing. Jeffrey Wayne Pries, 44, and another man were aboard the Yellowfin with Myers. Myers and Pries were diving and the third man remained aboard the vessel.
Pries reported Myers is an experienced diver with the appropriate certifications for the conditions in which he was diving.