Boat Captain Arrested For Abandoning Scuba Diving Oil Exec And Teen Son In Middle Of Ocean

An enormous search is underway off the coast of Malaysia for 46-year-old Shell engineer Adrian Chesters, his 14-year-old son Nathan, and 18-year-old French nationwide Alexia Alexandra Molina, who police say have been deserted by their boat captain in the course of the ocean.

The trio have been beneath the instruction of 35-year-old Norwegian dive grasp Kristine Grodem, who was coaching them for his or her superior dive licenses off the tiny island of Pulau Tokong Sanggol, 10 miles out from the mainland.

The alarm was raised on Wednesday when the boat returned to port without them; the captain advised police that they’d didn’t resurface an hour after diving into the 49ft-deep waters.

A search occasion involving two planes, 18 boats and virtually 100 personnel — together with rescue divers — have been instantly deployed to seek out the lacking foursome, however needed to flip again as a result of poor visibility.

Then, at 11:30 PM that evening, the boat captain was arrested after a urine pattern examined constructive for methamphetamine, Metro reported.

The search resumed early Thursday morning — and miraculously a tugboat managed to find the trainer Grodem, alive, some 30 nautical miles from the place they’d been diving. But she was alone.

“The teacher tried to maintain all of them collectively however they received separated,” Mersing police chief Superintendent Cyril Edward Nuing mentioned.

Grodem, who was discovered “floating and totally outfitted”, was airlifted to hospital, and described as in secure situation.

She advised rescuers her college students had surfaced, however the sturdy currents had separated them.

Searchers are nonetheless holding out hope the remaining trio survived.

“With their tools, their full gear and their expertise, we imagine there’s a sturdy likelihood of discovering them alive,” Nuing mentioned, per BBC.

Chester had solely not too long ago moved his household to the nation, having labored on a Shell rig within the Gulf of Mexico; Malaysia simply opened its borders to foreigners on April 1, after a two yr Covid lockdown.