Still no sign of missing diver (Update 3)

Rescuers had found no sign of the missing diver Andreas Yiangou by the time dark fell on Monday, the third day of the search and rescue operation to locate the diver.

On Monday divers carried out a two-kilometre underwater search around the area in Pomos, where 31-year-old Yiangou, reportedly an experienced diver, went missing while spear fishing on Saturday. Members of the rescue team also explored 100 square kilometres from the air.

The search was called off on Monday night, and is to resume on Tuesday morning with the aim to scour areas further away from those searched so far.

The search and rescue centre had sent two boats, a helicopter, and medical personnel to the area after Yiangou’s parents alerted authorities at around 5.30pm on Saturday that he had not been answering his phone all day. The 31-year-old is a father of two.

His car was found in the area where he went diving and rescuers also found the diver’s spear gun with a fish on it on the sea bed, some 22 metres underwater.

Camera footage on Yiangou’s spear gun shows that prior to his disappearance, he had speared a big fish in a rocky area, and then he begun swimming to the surface.

According to state broadcaster CyBC, the footage shows that something went wrong, as from that point on, his movements appeared erratic. Police, CyBC said, believe that he most probably started losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen.

An inflatable buoy and a second spear gun Yiangou had with him were also located in the sea.

A few hours after search operations were called off on Monday, a marine police vessel set off to check an area where a floating object had been seen.

According to media reports, the information came from National Guard soldiers serving in Pomos but the object was later discovered to be floating plastic bags.

Operations to locate Yiangou is a joint effort of the police, the national guard, the civil defence and volunteers.