PORT HUENEME : Searchers Unable to Find Diver, 27

U.S. Coast Guard and Navy officials suspended at sundown Sunday a search for a scuba diver reported missing from a boat four miles off Port Hueneme.

The 27-year-old Oregon man, whose identity was not released pending notification of relatives, was with friends on a 26-foot pleasure boat when he made the dive about 11:30 a.m., apparently to search for pieces of a sunken boat in 80 feet of water, said Petty Officer Robert Beals of the Coast Guard’s Long Beach station.

The man’s diving tank contained enough air for a 30-minute dive, Beals said. A companion on the boat sent out a distress signal when the diver failed to surface after 1 1/2 hours, Coast Guard officials said.

A Coast Guard helicopter and two cutters were joined by a helicopter from the Point Mugu naval station in the search, which was hampered by three- to four-foot waves and winds up to 25 knots, Beals said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Jim Schweikhardt said officials “searched the area thoroughly and we couldn’t locate him.” There were no plans to resume the search today, he said.