Chief Minister of Johor, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, said earlier today (7 April) that the search efforts for the four foreign divers who went missing off the coast of Mersing, Johor, are ongoing.
The four missing foreign divers are namely:
- A British man, Adrian Peter, 46,
- A Norwegian woman, Kristine Grodem, 35,
- A French woman, Alexa Alexandra, 18,
- A Dutch boy, Nathan Renze, 14.
The missing divers were having a dive session on Wednesday, 9 nautical miles off the coast of Tanjung Leman, Mersing in Johor.
Speaking to reporters at the rescue operation staging area, Chief Minister Onn Hafiz said:
“We are devastated this morning, because there are four people we are still looking for around the Mersing islands.
They disappeared yesterday. The four are foreign nationals, and one of them is an instructor.”
He further added that the other three divers were upgrading their diving certifications and that about 90 personnel have been deployed to locate and rescue the missing people, including 30 divers.
He added that two helicopters and 18 rescue boats will be involved in the search and rescue operations, and it will be done across 107 nautical miles.
Onn Hafiz then sent a message to the families of the missing divers, saying:
“My message to the families is, we are doing all that we can in terms of search and rescue and we will do our best to find them as soon as possible.
We will keep their families updated as soon as we can,”
Rescue efforts started on Wednesday at about 4pm but had to be halted due to adverse weather conditions.