The four missing divers were spotted by a Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane crew at 12:45 a.m. and were picked up by a Navy ship before being transferred to the Station Oak Island boatcrew.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Eric Tucker.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard and US Navy crews rescue 4 missing male divers 46 nautical miles southeast of Cape Fear River, North Carolina. Monday, August 14, 2023.
Rescued were Ben Wiggins, 64, Luke Lodge, 26, Daniel Williams, 46, Evan Williams, 16.
A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane crew notified Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders at 12:45 a.m. that they had spotted an SOS-strobe light, located the four missing divers, and launched a life raft. The HC-130 Hercules coordinated with the U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78), which was conducting a training exercise near the divers’ location to assist. The Porter crew arrived on scene and rescued all four divers safely from the life raft.
A Coast Guard Station Oak Island 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew arrived on location with the Porter and transferred the divers aboard. The boatcrew arrived at the station at approximately 6:10 a.m. and reunited the uninjured divers with friends and family.
“Any time the Coast Guard launches for a search and rescue case, it is always our hope and goal to be able to reunite those we are searching for with their friends and families,” said Capt. Timothy List, commander of Coast Guard Sector North Carolina. “In this case that is exactly what took place, which is always a great feeling for our rescue crews.”
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina initially received a notification Sunday from Coast Guard Sector Charleston who reported that the four men were diving from the pleasure craft Big Bill’s, approximately 63 nautical miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina near noon, and had not resurfaced.
Sectors Charleston and North Carolina coordinated a multi-asset search and rescue effort.
The divers were spotted by a Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane crew at 12:45 a.m. and were picked up by a Navy ship before being transferred to the Station Oak Island boatcrew.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Eric Tucker.
Rescue crews involved included:
- An MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina
- An HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew from Air Station Elizabeth City
- A 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Oak Island, North Carolina
- The Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish, an 87-foot patrol boat from Portsmouth, Virginia
- The Coast Guard Cutter Yellowfin, an 87-foot patrol boat from Charleston, South Carolina
- U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78)
–USCG–
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A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane crew spotted an SOS-strobe light and, using their FLIR system (Forward-Looking Infrared), were able to record the divers’ being brought aboard the U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78).
U.S. Coast Guard video.
U.S. Coast Guard Sector Charleston.
U.S. Coast Guard Sector North Carolina.
U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City.
U.S. Coast Guard Station Oak Island.
Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.
U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area.
U.S. Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic.
U.S. Navy.
USS PORTER (DDG-78).
Department of Homeland Security.
Department of Defense.
