Swiss diver missing - French Polynesia

[DandyDon]

Search continues for missing diver in French Polynesia | Radio New Zealand News

Several days of searching have failed to recover the Swiss yachtsman Laurent Bourgnon who went missing last week while diving in French Polynesia.The 49-year-old Bourgnon was reported missing on Thursday when he failed to return from a dive off the Tuamotu archipelago.
France's High Commission in the territory says an an aerial and maritime search in excellent weather has found no trace of Bourgnon.
His brother Yvan arrived in Tahiti on Friday and was planning another search around the Toau atoll.
He says his brother could survive five or six days if he is still drifting in warm seas.

 

[diver 85]

Thanks for posting---piqued my interest when I saw where(FP) in your post title...wife, daughter, SIL, & myself was @ Rangiroa last month---any idea what atoll he went missing from??....I do know there's lotsa current to dive in,--there.....tia

EDIT:.......nevermind----see now in the article it was off Toau atoll, ie S.E. of Rangi......

 

[cephalopod2]

There is a little more information in these articles. Unfortunately the search has been called off.

Search ends for yachtsman missing in French Polynesia dive

Jun. 29, 2015 5:05 AM EDT
PARIS (AP) — Maritime crews in French Polynesia have called off the search for Swiss yachtsman Laurent Bourgnon Sunday.

Authorities reported 49-year-old Bourgnon missing Wednesday after he failed to reappear from a solo dive. After five days, they are abandoning the search.

Bourgnon was diving on his own when he disappeared during a trip organized to take tourists on his boat. He had anchored in the Toau atoll, approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Tahiti. He was widely considered one of the world's top sailors, and twice won the Route du Rhum trans-Atlantic sailing race.

Bourgnon's brother Yvan, also an accomplished sailor who took part in the search, is keeping a ship and several boats in the area and says he will keep looking.

This French article says he was wearing an orange and yellow diving suit (perhaps a skin?) and that search conditions were excellent.
Fin officielle des recherches pour retrouver le navigateur Laurent Bourgnon

Le MRCC Souligné Laurent Bourgnon était équipé d'une combinaison orange et jaune, et que la météo the excellente été pendant les recherches et aérienne maritime, restées infructueuses. Il consider désormais that "it poursuite des recherches serait vaine."

Famous Swiss sailor Laurent Bourgnon missing in French Polynesia | Boat International

Famed Swiss sailor Laurent Bourgnon has gone missing while diving in French Polynesia, local authorities report.

Laurent Bourgnon was travelling on his yacht with four guests and three crew members in the Toau Archipelago. According to the Papeete Rescue Center in Tahiti, the 49-year-old Laurent Bourgnon went scuba diving on his own while the guests went diving with an instructor. When he failed to return after the dive, the yacht’s crew members reported Bourgnon missing on Wednesday afternoon, June 24.