The brother of the diver missing off Race Rocks said he’s holding out hope that the 27-year-old British Army veteran will be found.

Timothy Chu was separated from his dive master near Race Rocks just before noon on Sunday, which triggered a massive search by air and water. The Victoria Rescue Co-ordination Centre called off the search Monday night.

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But Chu’s brother, Joshua Chu, said from Hong Kong that he wants the search to continue. He said Timothy is “skilled in survival and no stranger to challenge,” having served in the British Army and being named soldier of the year in 2011.

Timothy’s church, the Kings Cross Methodist Church, has started an online petition urging that the search be continued, writing on the page: “We believe there is high hope that Timothy is still alive and must be found ASAP.”

Timothy works as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police in London and was visiting Vancouver Island on vacation, Joshua said.

His next stops were to be Seattle and San Francisco.

Timothy, who has been diving since he was a teenager, was with a dive master from the Ogden Point Dive Centre. He was last seen removing his weight belt to become more buoyant, his brother said.

Timothy has another brother who also lives in London. His parents live in Hong Kong.

“His family pleads with Canadian and U.S. authorities, as well as the British consulate, to continue the search,” Joshua said in a statement.

“Given the powerful current and miles of coastline on both Canadian and U.S. sides, they also ask anyone finding signs of the diver to contact police and email rescue.timo@gmail.com.”

The crew on the dive boat called the coast guard for assistance when Timothy failed to surface.

Volunteers searched until midnight Sunday and started again at dawn on Monday.

“We suspended the search because we conducted an extensive search over a large area and didn’t find anything,” said maritime co-ordinator Dylan Carter, adding that the search area had been expanded based on drift patterns.

A Buffalo fixed-wing plane, Cormorant helicopter, a coast guard boat from Ganges Harbour on Salt Spring Island, the naval vessel HMCS Whitehorse and three Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue vessels from the Sooke, Oak Bay and Victoria stations participated in the search.

You can sign the petition at timescolonist.com/timothychu.

kderosa@timescolonist.com

charnett@timescolonist.com