CAMERON, Louisiana — The Coast Guard suspended the search Sunday at 6:06 p.m., for a diver that went missing Friday afternoon approximately
35 miles south of Cameron.
Missing is Chet Cassell, a male in his mid 40s from Alexandria.
Approximately 1,860 square miles have been searched over two days, including 14 aircraft searches and 11 surface searches.
Coast Guard air assets involved in the search included an
Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and an
Air Station Corpus Christi Dolphin helicopter and
HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane, along with an
Air Station New Orleans Dolphin helicopter and an
HC-130 Hercules airplane from
Air Station Clearwater. Crews aboard surface assets from the Coast Guard Cutters Beluga, Harry Claiborne, Razorbill, and Manowar also covered the search area. Coast Guard Auxiliary crews helped to ferry aircrews from
Air Station Houston to the airport in
Lake Charles, Louisiana to support more on scene search time.
Friday at 4 p.m., an
Aviation Training Center Mobile, Alabama,
HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew overheard a mayday call on VHF marine band channel 16, reporting a diver that had gone spearfishing off a boat with a friend and did not resurface.
The Beluga and Manowar are 87-foot patrol boats and the Harry Claiborne is a 175-foot coastal buoy tender; all three are home-ported in Galveston, Texas. The Razorbill is an 87-foot patrol boat home-ported in Gulfport, Mississippi.
