A third day of searching for a diver who went missing in the waters near Deerfield Beach is underway, U.S. Coast Guard Southeast officials said.
Erick Gaunt, 32, was visiting from Georgia and got off of a commercial diving boat and into the water one nautical mile east of Lighthouse Point shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday, said Petty Officer Ryan Estrada, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard 7th District Southeast.
Gaunt did not return when he was expected to at 11:30 a.m. The line that connected Gaunt to a dive buoy was found “frayed” when the company retrieved it, Estrada said.
#BREAKING @USCG air & surface crews are searching for Erick Gaunt, a white man in his 30s, reported missing while diving off #DeerfieldBeach. Gaunt was last seen wearing a black wetsuit with yellow & white tanks.
Contact Sector Miami if you have any info at 305-535-4472 pic.twitter.com/OxpxhBKtd8
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) June 24, 2023
The company notified Coast Guard officials at 11:50 a.m. that Gaunt was missing. He was last seen wearing a black wetsuit with yellow and white tanks, Coast Guard officials said in a tweet.
Air and boat crews are continuing to search for him throughout the day with the help of other agencies, the Coast Guard said in a tweet about 8 a.m. Monday.
An employee who answered a phone number for the diving company said no one was available to speak about the missing diver. The company did not immediately respond to an email Monday afternoon.