Search continues in Thailand for missing diver

A search is underway near the island of Koh Khai Nok in Thailand for a Romanian tourist who went missing while diving.

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Sebastian Emil Somesan, 46, from Romania, went missing while diving on Sunday, January 8. The man was on a speedboat with another Romanian and a Thai national. At some point after the dive, there was a problem with unhooking the anchor. At that point, Somesan wore scuba gear and descended to a depth of 30 meters to unhook it.

It is very possible that the depth and strong currents were the cause of the tragedy. According to information reported by some media, the man had never before dived to a depth of more than 18 meters.

Companions of the missing diver testified that they moored about 100 meters offshore. As they were about to swim away, they found that they could not unhook the anchor. At that point, Somesan went down to the bottom and freed the anchor, but did not surface again himself. After waiting for a while, those waiting on the boat called the emergency services for help.

Shortly thereafter, a search operation began, and the services set up a search coordination center on Ya Nui beach. Unfortunately, on Monday, January 9, the search had to be halted due to poor visibility and strong tides. Rescuers resumed all action on Tuesday, but so far without any results.

Speaking to local media, the service representative made no secret of the fact that finding the missing man will be difficult. There is a high probability that he was carried away by strong currents and it is difficult to determine the search area.

Photo: Rawai Municipality

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