A group of five scuba divers were found ‘going gray’ by a couple sailing off the coast of Hawaii after they accidentally drifted away from their tour group.
Camila Storchi and her husband Ryan Sullivan, of Kaneohe, were sailing to Honolulu on Wednesday when Sullivan heard faint screaming near the China Walls cliff, they revealed in an Instagram post.
‘He heard screaming for help, and he started scanning the ocean, and we saw five little dots,’ Storchi told Hawaii News Now.
They found five divers clinging to one another to stay afloat after they had accidentally been separated from their tour boat a few hours beforehand.
One of them was already showing clear signs of hypothermia.
Camila Storchi and her husband Ryan Sullivan, of Kaneohe, were sailing to Honolulu on Wednesday listening to Wise Man by Mihali when the latter heard faint screaming as they were going around the China Walls
‘He heard screaming for help and he started scanning the ocean and we saw five little dots,’ she said. They found five divers all clinging to one another to stay afloat and one who was in the midst of hypothermia after they had accidentally been separated from their tour boat
‘One of them was like gray, and he was throwing up,’ Storchi told the outlet. ‘My husband tried to pull him, and he couldn’t even hold the ladder. We tried to pull them up, but the boat was rocking back and forth.’
Unable to get the desperate divers onboard, they called the US Coast Guard and circled the divers for 45 minutes until help arrived via helicopter.
In the meantime, they offered the divers, who were not identified, water and talked to them to keep them in ‘good spirits,’ Storchi said on Instagram.
As the Coast Guard helicopter reached them, another boat came out of nowhere and scooped the divers up and took off, which the couple thought was weird.
‘When the helicopter was getting low, this boat came fast and scooped them up and left,’ she told Hawaii News Now.
Unable to get the desperate divers onboard, they called a the US Coast Guard. As the Coast Guard helicopter reached them, another boat came out of nowhere and scooped the divers up. The Coast Guard said the boat belonged to the diving company – which was later self-identified as Aaron’s Dive Shop
‘When the helicopter was getting low, this boat came fast and scooped them up and left,’ Storchi told Hawaii News Now
The Coast Guard said the boat belonged to the diving company – which was later self-identified as Aaron’s Dive Shop – who overheard the sailboat report the stranded divers and headed their way.
‘The helicopter arrived on scene and relayed the position to the Honey Ann (dive boat) who transited to the location and picked up the divers,’ the Coast Guard told Hawaii News Now.
The divers later told Storchi after that there had been a sixth diver who stayed on the boat who told them the ‘captain was not monitoring anything.’
It wasn’t until the lone diver noticed the Coast Guard helicopter that he told the captain: ‘Look, there’s is a Coast Guard helicopter, maybe they are there.’
Aaron’s Dive Shop told Hawaii News Now that they are ‘grateful that all divers returned safely and without injury following last week’s incident.
The divers told Storchi (pictured) that there had been a sixth diver who stayed on the boat who told them the ‘captain was not monitoring anything.’
‘We are currently reviewing what occurred and our current protocols with our dive and boat staff to prevent similar incidents in the future.’
Shop owners said the dive location had been changed last minute and protocol was ‘not followed.’
‘The dive leader took responsible steps to maintain safety, including having proper surface marker buoys and keeping the group together while separated from the boat,’ they said in a statement to the outlet.
‘Aaron’s Dive Shop is proud of our excellent safety record, and we remain fully committed to upholding our high standards through consistent training and rigorous oversight.’
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