Overview
- Responders recovered the diver’s body and pronounced the person deceased after the recovery, and the victim’s identity is being withheld pending family notification.
- The search began after a Mayday call was received by U.S. Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 26, which mobilized local and state marine units.
- Florida Fish and Wildlife deployed four vessels and provided aerial support while the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit also joined the coordinated search.
- Friends of the missing diver left Fort Pierce Inlet to help at about 1 p.m. and civilian divers entered the water near Avalon State Park at about 4:10 p.m., finding the body on the ocean floor at roughly 55 feet about 6 to 7 miles north‑northeast of the inlet.
- Investigators with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division are examining the circumstances and have not released a cause of death, and local dive experts note the area can pose hazards that may shape the probe and local safety guidance.