MERSING
\nA British man and French teenager were rescued Saturday three days after going missing while diving in Malaysia, police said, as hopes faded for the man\u2019s son who is still unaccounted for.
\nThe trio and their instructor got into trouble Wednesday after they surfaced from a dive near a southern island but could not find their boat.
\nThe Briton, 46-year-old Adrian Chesters, and Frenchwoman Alexia Molina, 18, were discovered by fishermen in the waters of neighboring Indonesia, picked up by marine police and taken back to Malaysia.
\nThey were found about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Indonesia\u2019s Bintan Island \u2014 having drifted some 130 kilometers from where they had been diving.
\nThe pair have been admitted to a Malaysian hospital in a stable condition, said local police chief Cyril Edward Nuing in the coastal town of Mersing, the base for search operations.
\nThe instructor, Norwegian woman Kristine Grodem, had already been rescued on Thursday in waters off southern Malaysia.
\nChesters\u2019s son, 14-year-old Nathen, who holds Dutch citizenship, remains missing and officials believe he has drifted into Indonesian waters.
\nThere is a \u201chigh possibility that he is not in Malaysian waters, based on the flow of the current and the time and place where these two (Peters and Molina) were found,\u201d said Nuing.
\n\u201cWe decided to stop the search and rescue in Malaysian waters and we have informed Indonesian parties to continue (it).\u201d
\nMalaysian authorities remain on standby in case they need to resume the hunt, he added.
\nIn recent days, Malaysia had deployed helicopters, a plane, boats, divers and jet skiers to hunt over a large area.
\nAuthorities did not give details on how the rescued trio survived a long period drifting at sea, and said they have not yet been questioned in detail about their ordeal.
\nPreviously, officials had expressed hope the divers would be found alive as they had substantial experience and were well equipped, including with a diving buoy.
\nThey also said that light rains in recent days might help the divers survive by providing drinking water.
\nOn Thursday, the French teen\u2019s mother Esther Molina said from Mersing that the family were \u201choping for the best. She\u2019s a strong girl, she\u2019ll kick ass.\u201d
\nGrodem had been instructing the divers close to a small island, Tokong Sanggol, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) off Malaysia\u2019s southeast coast, when the accident happened.
\nAfter a dive lasting about 40 minutes, they surfaced but could not find their boat. They drifted together in strong currents, but ended up getting separated.
\nThe captain of the boat who took them to the dive site has been arrested after testing positive for drugs.
\nThe area where the accident happened is popular with foreign and domestic visitors \u2014 resorts dot the coast and the islands.
\nDiving accidents, while rare, do occasionally happen in Malaysia.
\nIn 2013, a British tourist died when she was struck by a passing boat\u2019s propeller while diving off resort islands in the South China Sea.
\nThe tropical Southeast Asian nation\u2019s borders reopened to foreign tourists on April 1 after a two-year coronavirus closure, and thousands of visitors have arrived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MERSING A British man and French teenager were rescued Saturday three days after going missing while diving in Malaysia, police said, as hopes faded for the man\u2019s son who is still unaccounted for. The trio and their instructor got into trouble Wednesday after they surfaced from a dive near a southern island but could not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n