Coast Guard finds 3 divers missing off West Molokai

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COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD The Coast Guard rescues three missing divers near Penguin Bank off Molokai on Monday. The divers were located at 4 p.m. six miles from their original location by a Coast Guard 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Honolulu.

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COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD

The Coast Guard rescues three missing divers near Penguin Bank off Molokai on Monday. The divers were located at 4 p.m. six miles from their original location by a Coast Guard 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Honolulu.

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Three divers were found safe Monday evening, some five hours after they were reported missing and about 6 miles from where they were last seen.

The divers — a 40-year-old man, 30-year-old man and 17-year-old boy — were diving with another man near Penguin Bank off the west coast of Molokai when their 20-foot cabin vessel began to drift away at about 10 a.m.

The operator of the boat went to recover it, and when he went back to where he left his friends, he couldn’t find them. After searching the area for about 90 minutes, the man radioed for help at about 11:20 a.m., a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman confirmed that the area was marked with a dive float.

It was unclear how the boat began to drift.

The crew of a 45-foot Coast Guard response boat from Honolulu Harbor, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Barbers Point, and the Coast Guard Cutter Ahi searched the area. Mariners in the area also were asked to look out for the divers.

The divers were found by the response boat at about 4 p.m.

No injuries were reported.