The second full day of searching has turned up no sign of 68-year-old American John Drest.
As we've reported, Drest along with his brother and sister-in-law went snorkeling Wednesday morning on Discovery Divers' catamaran "Belize Pride." Half-hour into the trip at 'Shark & Ray Alley,' the 68 year old Nebraskan went missing. That was Wednesday and up to this evening when the search was called off, there was no sign of the body. His brother Donald told 7NEWS yesterday that the trip was troubled from the start. Donald said the water was too deep, the currents were too strong, and they weren't properly briefed.
Tony Reid is operations manager at Discovery Divers and he has been out searching for the last two days. He retired this evening due to the threat of Gamma. He told Keith Swift that apart from the missing diver, it was smooth sailing on Wednesday morning.
Tony Reid, Operators Manager - Discovery Divers
"As far as we are concerned, on what research we've done on
the tour, nothing adverse went wrong on that tour, other than we have lost this gentleman but there was instance that should have led to this happening. Its still confusing to us today as to what happened."
Keith Swift,
Last night Mr. Drest told me that the water was not 4 to 6 feet deep; the water was way out of his league.
Tony Reid,
"Well you got to understand that 'way out of your league,' is all dependent on your skill level. We try to make sure, as I said to you, that we have a secure site, a safe site and the conditions on that day were no different than they are normally. There was no adverse weather conditions. When he said it was out of his league, I am assuming that his skill level was maybe not necessarily as good as it should be."
Keith Swift,
But he says he has snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef.
Tony Reid,
"Yeah I mean a lot of people have but when did he last do that. He's saying that he was in a situation where he had to ask for help, he did get assistance from one of our guides, her name was Nydia. She actually brought him back to the boat. There was comments, you have to understand that I haven't actually seen the report from yesterday so I'm assuming that the report indicated he said he was in a strong current."
Keith Swift,
He said the currents were unusually strong.
Tony Reid,
"Well the fact is that they were not. That is a normal situation for that location and for example, if he was assisted back to the vessel by Nydia, if the currents were so strong, she wouldn't have been able to bring the gentleman back to the boat to start off with. So unfortunately I don't want to necessarily put a negative slant on this already sad situation but obviously we have to go with the fact that we experienced in what we do and there isn't any way that we would be going out of our way to make life difficult. We want people to enjoy themselves and we wouldn't adversely put people in a dangerous situation."
Keith Swift,
Some people would say that yes you are experienced but right in front of the very eyes of your guides, a man went missing.
Tony Reid,
"You are absolutely right and the only answer to that is we don't have an answer as to why this happened. It is a very sad situation."
Keith Swift,
Mr. Drest told me it's a sad situation which was caused by negligence. Do you think your guides were negligent in anyway?
Tony Reid,
"Oh not at all. We consider ourselves to be very professional and we have been professional throughout that tour and for every tour we do."
Keith Swift,
In hindsight, could anything have been done differently?
Tony Reid,
"I don't think there could have been anything done differently."
Again John Drest's body has not been found but Reid and the team at Discovery Divers say they will continue searching. Drest's brother Donald told us this evening they will sty here as long as it takes to recover the body.
