The Coast Guard and Navy rescued four missing male divers Monday, located 46 miles southeast of Cape Fear River in North Carolina, according to a press release by the United States Coast Guard.
Two were a father and son from Moore County, Dr. Daniel Williams, 46, and Pinecrest student Evan Williams, 15. The other rescued divers were Ben Wiggins, 64, and Luke Lodge, 26.
According to ABC News/Good Morning America, the divers surfaced in a different location than their boat and drifted off, making it impossible for the people on the boat to see them. They were rescued over 12 hours later.
A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane crew notified Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders at 12:45 a.m. that they had spotted an SOS-strobe light, located the four missing divers, and launched a life raft.
The HC-130 coordinated with the U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78), which was conducting a training exercise near the divers’ location to assist. The Porter crew arrived on scene and rescued all four divers safely from the life raft.
A Coast Guard Station Oak Island 47-foot motor lifeboat crew arrived on location with the Porter and transferred the divers aboard. The boat crew arrived at the station at approximately 6:10 a.m. and reunited the uninjured divers with friends and family.
“Any time the Coast Guard launches for a search and rescue case, it is always our hope and goal to be able to reunite those we are searching for with their friends and families,” said Capt. Timothy List, commander of Coast Guard Sector North Carolina, in a press release. “In this case that is exactly what took place, which is always a great feeling for our rescue crews.”
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina initially received a notification Sunday from Coast Guard Sector Charleston, who reported that the four men were diving from the pleasure craft Big Bill’s, approximately 63 miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, near noon and had not resurfaced.
Courtesy photo/Contributed.
