Air Guard and Coast Guard teams are continuing the search for commercial diver Chevonne Bartholemew who went missing at sea following an underwater expedition off Gasparee Island in Chaguaramas on Monday.
Bartholemew, 37, of Flamboyant Crescent, Valencia, was employed with Trindive Underwater Services which contracts commercial divers for companies involved in the oil and gas industry.
Police said Bartholemew went to do an underwater inspection of a boat anchored in about 60 feet deep water but he never resurfaced.
Bartholemew was wearing scuba diving gear and was taking still photos of a vessel’s hull, one diver said.
Several divers and search teams were combing the waters up to late yesterday but were affected by strong top currents and undercurrents.
His wife, Pete-Ann Bartholemew, said she was praying that he was still alive. The couple has two children, Zion, 11, who is writing the Secondary Entrance Assessment examinations this year and six-year-old Zoey.
Pete-Ann said Bartholemew left home at 4 am to go to Chaguaramas after getting a call on Sunday night.
She said usually air divers are connected by an umbilical cable and are in communication with someone above in the dive vessel.
“He had an air supply in a tank but I don’t know what kind of communication he had or if he was connected,” Pete-Ann said, recounting details from what other divers told her.
Pete-Ann said she was told that her husband got disconnected and he was not attached to the other diver. She said this was highly irregular.
“I am a praying person. I know that everyone is out there searching for him. Several divers and boats went out yesterday. Coast guard officers were there and the Air Guard helicopter was promised but that did not happen. We were in touch with someone from the National Operations Centre who agreed to send out a chopper. Subsequent to that they spoke about not having fuel but I am hopeful. We are a family of faith and we are believing that he is alive and waiting to be rescued,” Pete-Ann said.
The diver’s sister Candace Bartholemew said she was concerned that the helicopter was not immediately used in the search.
“No air support went up. I want to know the truth and if all the proper procedures were followed. We want honest information coming out about what happened to him,” she said.
Public Relations Officer of the T&T Coast Guard Lt Sherron Manswell confirmed that a search was on to find the missing diver. Asked why a helicopter was not immediately dispatched with the rescue teams, Manswell said Bartholemew had equipment on his back which could have weighed him down so it made more sense to dispatch divers to comb the sea for him. He said the currents posed a challenge and the search had to be abandoned but it resumed around 3 pm. He said aerial searches were scheduled to be done yesterday.