A married scuba diving couple has been rescued off the coast of Matagorda, Texas, having drifted for 36 hours after becoming separated from their group during a storm.
Kim and Nathan Maker, from Oklahoma, were separated from their dive boat after the current and swell picked up during their dive in the Gulf of Mexico.
‘The rain was so hard that you couldn’t see outside,’ said fellow diver Lisa Shearin, who was on the same boat as the couple. ‘It stormed and the winds were atrocious, the waves were atrocious.’
The US Coastguard Corpus Christi Sector said in a statement that it had received a notification the afternoon of Wednesday, 24 July that the divers ‘were last seen surfacing un unfavourable weather conditions and were not seen after conditions cleared.’
The search involved Coastguard helicopter crews from Corpus Christi and Houston, a fixed-wing Ocean Sentry aircraft from Corpus Christi, a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium, and the Coast Guard Cutter Edgar Culbertson.
After a search that covered approximately 1,656 square miles (4289 sq km), the couple was eventually spotted using their dive torches to signal to the Ocean Sentry aircraft as it flew overhead.
The divers were transported to Coast Guard Station Freeport, and later to hospital where they were said to be in a stable condition having suffered from sunburn, dehydration and jellyfish stings during their ordeal.
