Scuba diving couple left floating in the ocean for 36 hours during ‘atrocious’ storm reveal how they survived after becoming separated from their group
A couple who went missing while diving have told how they were rescued after nearly 40 hours at sea.
Officials say Kim and Nathan Maker never left each other’s side during that time, wading through waters miles off the Texas coast in a desperate search for rescue.
The Oklahomans were spotted by a plane just hours before the search was called off. Family and friends are calling the outcome a miracle, as the storms threatened to swallow them whole.
The rescue took place in the notoriously dangerous Gulf of Mexico early Friday morning, 36 hours after the two were swept away by a current that separated them from their group on Wednesday.
A day of searching turned up nothing. Fellow divers told news stations in the Sooner State how they lost sight of the Makers.
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Kim and Nathan Maker spent most of Wednesday and Thursday together, despite wading for more than a day and a half in waters miles off the Texas coast.
The Oklahomans were spotted by a plane just hours before the search was called off — an outcome that family and friends consider miraculous, as storm waves threatened to swallow the couple whole. Infrared images from the rescue plane can be seen here
“It was raining so hard you couldn’t see out,” diver Lisa Shearin told Fox 19 Now Sunday about how the bad weather changed during the dive.
“It was stormy, the wind was terrible and the waves were huge,” she said.
While others reached the boat safely, the Makers were nowhere to be seen, she and others said.
Charles Owen, a relative of the couple, described how the separation occurred in a stretch of ocean near the town of Matagorda.
“There’s a huge wave coming that’s going to completely wash over Kim and Nathan,” said Owen, Nathan’s uncle.
‘When the waves come in, they are nowhere to be seen.
“A storm came up and the divers had all surfaced and were preparing to go back on board,” he further explained to Oklahoma News 4.
‘As the 16 came in the swell came up and they were all swamped.’
Nathan and Kim then blew up their safety gear and successfully resurfaced, family members and Coast Guard officials said.
“It was raining so hard you couldn’t see out of the window,” diver Lisa Shearin told Fox 19 Now on Sunday about the bad weather that hit them mid-dive.
“There’s a huge swell coming in and it’s going to completely wash Kim and Nathan over,” said Charles Owen, Nathan’s uncle. “When the swell comes in, they’re nowhere to be seen.”
But by then the storm – seen early Wednesday evening – had become too strong, witnesses said, and soon the Markers were miles from where the group had dived.
“Very scary,” Owen said of the 1,600-square-mile (4,200-square-kilometer) search that lasted about 36 hours.
It started around 7 p.m. Wednesday night, when he and other family members first received a call from the Coast Guard, reporting that the couple had disappeared that morning while diving in the Gulf of Mexico.
“After a day and a half, we had almost given up hope,” said the Edmond man, who recalled how the grid operators had handled everything and had just finished searching, but had found nothing.
It wasn’t until the 36th hour that authorities were about to abandon their search when a discovery was made – in the middle of the night, miles from the original dive site.
“This plane happened to be in the air last night, making its last flight off the grid. Nathan and Kim had their dive lights with them and were pointing an SOS signal to the bottom of the plane,” Owen said of how it happened.
‘The plane saw them on a final pass. Then the boats came to help.’
The discovery ended what many suspected was a futile attempt and was proof of the couple’s undying devotion to each other, Owen said.
A 4,200 square kilometre search ensued, lasting approximately 36 hours, after the pair, like other members of their group (pictured here), failed to return to the boat
“A storm came up and the divers were all up and getting ready to get back on the boat,” Owen explained further. “As the 16 were coming in, the swell came in and they were all swamped.” The boat is seen here after the two had failed to get back on.
“Even when the waves came, they found them; they were together,” he said.
“We thank everyone for their concern and prayers. This miracle was performed by the Coast Guard at God’s direction.”
Shearin, the only diver in the group of 18 who spoke about the shock, added: ‘People don’t survive something like this without having a story to tell,
“They clearly have a bigger purpose,” she said, sometimes emotionally.
‘God truly spared them.’
The Coast Guard issued its own statement on Friday, hours after the 1 a.m. rescue 24 kilometers off the coast of Matagorda.
“Corpus Christi Sector rangers received a report Wednesday afternoon that the divers last surfaced in adverse weather conditions and had not been seen since conditions cleared,” the bulletin said.
The crews of the MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Corpus Christi and the HC-144 Ocean Sentry were deployed along with the crew of a medium-sized boat from Station Port O’Connor, a 45-foot Response Boat, to search for the divers.
The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Edgar Culbertson was also ordered to assist in the search.
It wasn’t until hour 36 that authorities were close to abandoning their search when a discovery was made, authorities said — in the middle of the night, miles from the original dive site. The two were treading water together, using their flashlights to send out an SOS
‘The crew of the Ocean Sentry aircraft spotted a flashing light in the water while searching and relayed the divers’ location to the cutter.
“The divers have been transported to the Freeport Coast Guard Station and are reported to be in stable condition,” the statement concluded.
The couple has not yet issued a statement of their own. On Monday morning it was still unclear whether they were back home in Edmond.