VENTURA : Fog Prevents Search for Missing Diver
Heavy fog prevented the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department from conducting an aerial search Monday for a 41-year-old man who was reported lost while scuba diving near Ventura Harbor.
Weather permitting, a sheriff’s helicopter will search the area today for Edward Lee Skidmore of Van Nuys, who failed to surface after a recreational dive Saturday, said Sgt. Earl Matthews of the sheriff’s search and rescue team.
Skidmore was diving in 30 feet of water north of the breakwater around 5:30 p.m. when his two diving companions, Glenn Campagna of Simi Valley and John Sessums of Panorama City, reported him missing.
A search by divers was called off Sunday when dangerous surf conditions and a strong current reduced underwater visibility to one foot, he said.
“Conditions were so tough one of our own divers was driven into the jetty’s large rocks and shoved into one of the caverns between the rocks,” Matthews said.
If foggy skies clear sufficiently today, the search and rescue unit will fly over the ocean surface around Ventura Harbor. But divers will not be used again unless rough surf conditions subside for several days, Matthews said.
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