Crews rescue diver after he had been missing for hours

A diver was rescued from off Sarasota County shores Friday after he was missing for hours, officials said.

The Sarasota Police Department received a report around 1:45 p.m. Friday of a missing diver near the area of Casey Key and Siesta Key.

The person in the boat was not sure where he was and was unfamiliar with how to operate the boat or use the radio for communications, according to police. He told authorities that the diver had been missing for about two hours.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer along with a police department Marine Patrol officer initiated a search and rescue, and officials with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to help. The wind Friday was estimated at 20 knots, and officials worked in 6-foot seas.

Officials found the boat nearly nine miles offshore, and the person on board was taken back to shore, according to police.

The Coast Guard found the missing diver shortly after. The diver was exhausted and dehydrated but in otherwise good health, according to police.

A Coast Guard boat crew pulled the 47-year-old Nort Port diver from the water Friday afternoon nearly 10 miles west of Blackburn Bay. Rescuers found the diver clinging to a buoy just two miles from where the boat was found.

Police reminded the community in a Facebook post to always check weather conditions before going on the water.

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 1:20 PM with the headline "Crews rescue diver after he had been missing for hours."