Teams from multiple law enforcement agencies participate in Jan. 25 search
A 66-year-old Rotunda man died after diving in the Gulf off Manasota Beach Park in Englewood on the morning of Sunday, Jan. 25, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has reported.
Gail Smith, of Long Meadow Court in Rotunda, which is southwest of Manasota Key, had remained the water after his friend, Dan Mcatee, also of Rotunda, had come ashore, Mcatee told the deputy who responded to his call about a missing diver, the Sheriff’s Office report says.
The two Rotunda men began diving about 9:30 a.m., Mcatee noted. He came out of the water about 10:30 a.m., he added, but he told the deputy, he did not see Smith, the report continues.
While waiting for Smith to emerge from the Gulf, Mcatee said, he returned to his vehicle and began loading his scuba gear into it. He told the deputy that he left his car unlocked in case Smith returned to it while he was looking for Smith.
“Mcatee began to worry and told the lifeguards on duty [that Mcatee was missing],” the report continues.
“Mcatee was able to locate their dive marker approximately one mile north from where they entered the water,” he told the deputy. Yet, Smith was not there, he said, so he called for law enforcement assistance.
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Sheriff’s Office’s Marine Patrol and Aviation units, the Venice Police Department Marine Patrol, the Sarasota Police Department Marine Patrol, and representatives of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) arrived on the scene to search for Smith, the report says.
About 3:28 p.m., it notes, two men spotted Smith’s body “washing ashore and dragged [it] out of the water.”
A Sarasota County Fire Department member pronounced Smith deceased, the report says.
The body was removed from the scene by staff of the District 12 Medical Examiner’s Office, the report adds.
The Sarasota News Leader was unable to get a copy of the medical examiner’s report before the publication deadline for this issue.