WILMINGTON, N.C. (WNCN) — The U.S. Coast Guard is actively searching for four missing divers off the North Carolina coast Sunday night.
The search is taking place 50 miles south of Cape Fear, according to a Sunday night news release from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Earlier in the day, crews at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina were told that four men were missing from the pleasure craft named Big Bill’s.
The four were diving around noon about 63 miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and had not resurfaced, the news release said.
“Coordinating with Sector Charleston, Sector North Carolina launched a multi-asset search and rescue effort,” officials said.
So far, two HC-130 Hercules aircraft — one of which is from Elizabeth City — and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Elizabeth City are involved in the search.
Efforts to find the men are expected to continue overnight into Monday, officials said.
The seas have about 2-3 feet waves and there are 10-knot winds, the Coast Guard said.
Other craft involved in the search are a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Oak Island, the Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish, an 87-foot patrol boat from Sandy Hook, New Jersey and the Coast Guard Cutter Yellowfin, an 87-foot patrol boat from Charleston, South Carolina.
