BIMINI, Bahamas — The U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defense Forces suspended a search Sunday afternoon for a free diver who worked in Palm Beach County and was missing in Bimini, Bahamas, since 4 p.m. Friday.
Coast Guard aircraft crews searched more than 673 square miles and 6.5 asset hours for Ryan Proulx, 31, who is from Connecticut and was a boat captain in South Florida.
He was an East Hartford police officer from 2017-21 after two years with the Monroe Police Department in Connecticut. His father William Proulx retired from East Hartford police in 2002.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the Proulx family,” Lt. Cmdr. Matt Spado, Coast Guard liaison officer, said in a post on Twitter. “The decision to suspend the active search efforts pending further development is one we never take likely.”
The U.S. Coast Guard assisted the Royal Bahamas Defense Forces.
Petty Officer Eric Rodriguez in Miami told WPTV they sent two helicopters and a plane from Miami to aid in the search.
Proulx was last seen wearing a green top with red fins in the vicinity of Bimini Barge Wreck, 1.5 miles west of Bimini Inlet.
On Thursday, he had departed with eight others, including in wife, on two boats, from a marina in Palm Beach County.
Jupiter resident Steve Diffenbacher told WPTV's Briana Nespral his friend is an experienced driver and licensing fishing charter captain, owning a charter company that often ran boats from the Northeast down to South Florida.
Diffenbacher asked mariners who may be traveling across from Florida to be on the lookout.
"He was drifting northeast at 1.3 knots," Diffenbacher said. "He should be in the area of El Dorado shoal to Great Isaac.
Free diving is going underwater without using a breathing apparatus, so distances and time spent are limited.
A GoFundMe accounthas been set up for him. According to the post, the Law Enforcmenet family / friends of Ryan are trying to put together a group of Volunteer Divers who are determined to help search for Ryan in the Bahama Waters on their own time."