Mersing district police chief Cyril Edward shows pictures of British man Adrian Peter Chesters and French woman Alexia Alexandra Molina, who were found safe after drifting at sea for two and a half days. Reuters/Ebrahim Harris
Mersing district police chief Cyril Edward shows pictures of British man Adrian Peter Chesters and French woman Alexia Alexandra Molina, who were found safe after drifting at sea for two and a half days. Reuters/Ebrahim Harris
A Dutch teenager who disappeared after going diving off the coast of Malaysia is dead, according to his father who was found drifting at sea on Saturday, officials said.
Fourteen-year-old Nathan Renze Chesters and his British father Adrian Peter Chesters, 46, were in a group of four who went missing on Wednesday afternoon on a training dive near Tokong Sanggol, a small island off the southeastern town of Mersing.
Norwegian diver Kristine Grodem is transferred by a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) helicopter to Mersing, after being rescued off the Mersing coast, Johor, Malaysia, on Thursday. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/Handout via Reuters.
Norwegian diver Kristine Grodem is transferred by a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) helicopter to Mersing, after being rescued off the Mersing coast, Johor, Malaysia, on Thursday. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/Handout via Reuters.
The elder Chesters and Alexia Alexandra Molina, 18, from France were rescued by fishermen at around 1 a.m. (1700 GMT on Friday) off Indonesia's Bintan island, southeast of Singapore, and some 100 km (60 miles) south of where they went missing, officials said.
The group's instructor, Kristine Grodem, 35, from Norway, was rescued on Thursday.
Nathan, whose body has not been recovered, was confirmed to have died by his father, "as he was too weak and could not survive," the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said in a statement.
Malaysian assets would be on standby to help, he said.
Alexandre Molina (C) and Esther Molina (2nd-R), parents of missing diver Alexia Alexandra Molina from France, look at a map during ongoing search efforts to locate three divers. Alexia was later found.
Mohd Rasfan / AFP
Alexandre Molina (C) and Esther Molina (2nd-R), parents of missing diver Alexia Alexandra Molina from France, look at a map during ongoing search efforts to locate three divers. Alexia was later found.
Mohd Rasfan / AFP
Grodem earlier told officials the group surfaced about an hour into their dive on Wednesday but could not find their boat.
She was later separated from the others after being caught in strong currents.
The boat operator who took them to the dive site was detained after testing positive for drugs, police said.
Source(s): Reuters