Four foreign divers with extensive diving experience went missing in the Samaesarn Sea, Chonburi Province. Search operations have been urgently mobilized after they went missing during Technical Diving training.
On 14 August 2026, the Marine National Interests Protection Command Center (MNIPCC) and Chonburi Provincial Command Center received a report of four missing foreign divers during a dive in the Samaesarn Sea, Sattahip District, Chonburi. Mr. Nattawut Anuyotha, the Sattahip district chief, immediately proceeded to inspect the situation. He gathered information from the informants to assess the situation and prepare for search and rescue efforts.
Initial information indicates that the dive boat named “Jepoddy Tour” departed from Warasin Pier, Samaesarn, before 10:00 a.m. On board were eight tourists and five dive instructors. The boat headed to a dive site commonly known as “Rong Khon Rong Nang” (Theater Mask and Theater). Currently, the exact coordinates have not been confirmed.
Later, four tourists began Technical Diving training. Around 3:00 p.m., the scheduled time for surfacing, the four divers failed to return to the surface. A search was immediately conducted in the surrounding area. Initially, the instructors circled the area by boat but found no trace. They then reported the incident to MNIPCC to request support for search and rescue.
The four missing individuals are all foreign males. Preliminary information identifies one as British, two as American, and one with nationality yet to be confirmed. Details such as names, ages, and precise dive location and depth are still under investigation.
Ms. Supitchaya Kankit, 45, wife of one of the missing divers, revealed that all four divers were experienced and certified. Some are dive instructors. This dive was intended as additional training to enhance their Technical Diving skills.
“All four are highly experienced divers, some already certified as instructors. This time, they came to learn additional skills, so I’m confident they are advanced divers, not novices,” the missing diver’s girlfriend said.
Regarding the incident, the girlfriend said she was not on the boat when it happened. According to the plan, at the scheduled time, divers were supposed to send equipment or a signal to mark their position upon surfacing, so the captain would know where they were surfacing.
However, at the appointed time, no such signal was detected. The captain and those on board began searching the surrounding area but found no sign of the four divers.
She added that she received a call from the boat crew around 3:00 p.m., informing her that after about half an hour of searching, they still had found nothing. They then quickly coordinated with authorities to request help. Search efforts were intensified by both sea and air, with a helicopter conducting at least one aerial survey in the evening.
A total of eight tourists were on the boat, but the group was divided from the four missing Technical Divers. The remaining divers were conducting shallower dives. After the incident, the captain returned the boat to shore to drop off the remaining tourists before heading back out to join the search. Other operators’ boats also joined the search efforts.
The girlfriend said the four missing divers likely entered the water at a familiar dive site with an estimated depth of about 40 meters. However, exact coordinates and depth remain to be confirmed by officials and relevant parties.
Technical Diving is a form of diving more complex than recreational diving. Divers must complete specialized training, plan their dives carefully, and manage breathing gases systematically. Some forms involve deeper depths, multiple breathing gases, and planned decompression stops before surfacing.
Therefore, in certain types of Technical Diving, divers cannot surface immediately if problems occur due to considerations of depth, gas quantities, and decompression procedures. Search and rescue thus require personnel and divers with specialized expertise. Authorities are currently conducting search operations and further investigation.