Search parties set out at 8am on Friday, continuing for a second day to look for a diver who went missing at the Zenobia shipwreck.
The missing man went diving at 10am on Thursday with his colleague off the Larnaca coast and failed to resurface with his buddy. The search started as soon as the diver was realised to be missing by others at the scene and continued until the light failed.
Commander of the Larnaca search and rescue coordination centre Andreas Charalambides told the Cyprus News Agency that the operation re-started with the participation of divers from the police and the national guard, as well as volunteer groups.
Charalambides had earlier told state broadcaster CyBC that the missing diver was an instructor. According to the commander, the missing man’s dive buddy was not concerned when he resurfaced alone as “nothing worrying” was at play.
The alarm was raised once the scheduled dive time expired, and the man was nowhere to be seen.
“The search for the missing person was immediately started by the people in the area, however, specialised divers are needed, since some [are qualified to] enter the ship while others are limited to searching outside,” Charalambides explained.
As soon as the diver was reported missing, helicopters and boats searched the surface of the sea at a wide radius around the Zenobia wreck.
“We had hoped to locate the missing person on the surface of the sea,” Charalambides said.
The commander suggested the man may have entered the wreck and been unable to get out due to disorientation, panic or another problem.
“It is not an easy situation to investigate a shipwreck, since the further the divers go down into the ship’s carcass, the cloudier the water, and it is difficult to see,” he added.
There is no law that prohibits divers from visiting any part of the wreck, the commander said.
The Zenobia shipwreck, which sank in 1980, has been touted as one the best the Mediterranean diving sites, often referred to as the Titanic of the Mediterranean.
It is frequently listed as one of the top ten wrecks in the world for diving. The popular wreckage is located around 1,500 metres off the Larnaca coast, at a depth of 42 metres, and is 172 metres across.
Last year another diver was taken to hospital from the wreck for pulmonary edema following rescue.
Authorities conducting the search for the missing diver under the activation of the national Nearchos plan, have announced that all recreational diving around the wreck has been suspended until the end of the operation.