Soviet Diver Lost Off Bermuda on Joint Research Expedition

A Soviet military diver disappeared off Bermuda Thursday while trying to lure sharks and other fish as part of a joint Soviet-American photo research expedition, authorities said.

“He might have been taken as bait himself,” said an employee of Harbor Radio, the Bermuda government network that monitors maritime radio traffic in the area.

The unnamed 35-year-old diver was affixing pieces of tuna to the outside of a three-man submarine in an effort to attract bigger fish to within photographic range when he vanished.

Another Soviet diver with him at the 100-foot level said he never saw what happened to his colleague. The two made the dive together but only one returned.

Local police, a U.S. Navy helicopter and other ships launched a search which after 12 hours proved fruitless. It was expected to resume Friday.

The expedition was sponsored by the National Geographic Society on board the Soviet ship Keldysh, considered the flagship of Soviet marine science.

Walter Cronkite, the journalist, and Wilbur E. Garrett, editor of the National Geographic, had been on the ship hours before the divers went down.

The ship is in Bermuda to observe deep-sea life. It carries two mini-submarines, each valued at $40 million and each capable of reaching depths of 21,000 feet.