Female scuba diver lost at sea for three days is found dead hours after five others were rescued from shark-infested waters off Bali

Five tourists and two instructors had been missing for three days



Five of the divers were found alive clinging to a coral reef yesterday



Fishermen had spotted the divers 12 miles from where they set off



This morning they found a sixth scuba diver dead in the water



Rescuers are being vague about the whereabouts of the seventh



The body of a female scuba diver has been found as rescue workers tried to reach her and another woman who have been missing in shark-infested waters off the coast of Bali for three days.



Rescue workers believed the dead woman and another female diver were alive and were clinging to a steep coral reef about 20ft above the pounding water.



But this morning as they arrived to save them, they discovered the body of one of the women floating in the water.



The pair had become separated from five other divers who all were rescued yesterday 12 miles from where they set off on their expedition and are currently recovering in hospital from exhaustion and dehydration.

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Recovered: The body of a Japanese scuba diver is transported to Sangalah hospital in Denpasar on Bali island today after it was found floating in the water

The diver's body was discovered today. She was initially thought to have been alive and clinging to a coral reef The group had become separated from their boat on their third dive off the island of Nusa Lembongan, near Bali, last Friday.

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Next One killed and 77 injured during night of rioting at... Share this article Share After five divers were rescued yesterday, the final two were spotted this morning by local fishermen on the coral cliff about half a mile east of where the other five were found. Local villagers tried to land an outrigger canoe on the island and help the women down from the cliff but the coral and the wild sea made the operation impossible.

Survivors: Five of the seven Japanese scuba divers are pictured being rescued. They had been missing for three days off the Indonesian resort island of Bali in shark-infested waters A Japanese scuba diver is carried from a boat as she arrives in Sanur in Denpasar on the Indonesian island of Bali after being rescued on Monday Two Japanese scuba divers are brought off from a boat as they arrive in Sanur in Denpasar on the Indonesian island of Bali after being rescued

Local police chief Nyoman Suarsika said they were found in the Manta Point area 12 miles from where they set off on their dive Rescue teams from Bali considered using a helicopter to lift the women off the cliff but as the day wore on conditions did not improve. Then came the shock discovery of a body floating in the sea. Bali search and rescue chief Did Hamzar said: ' We are convinced that the body belongs to one of the two missing Japanese divers, based on the diver's characteristics. 'The female body was found at 6.10pm', he said. 'It was floating off Serangan beach in southern Bali.'

The body has since been recovered and taken to a hospital in the Balinese capital, Denpasar for a post mortem examination.

There was no immediate news about the seventh diver who had earlier been seen clinging to the cliff.

Officials were vague as to whether she had been seen still on the cliff as the light began to fade on Tuesday evening.

Four ambulances were waiting next to the beach for the divers to arrive, while dozens of Balinese people had also gathered to watch the divers be brought on to the shore One of the rescued women, 27-year-old Saori Furukawa, in a note passed to Japanese media from her hospital bed, said: 'We caused many people so much worry over this case.'

Rescuers said it was possible the five rescued divers had managed to survive by floating in a group.

'That means they can cheer each other up and support each other, mentally and physically,' he said. 'They might also have benefited from the weather. It's their rainy season, so it's relatively easy to harvest rainwater while floating on the sea.'

The group had set off on a dive expedition Friday from the Mangrove area of Nusa Lembongan, an adjacent island. The shortest route to where they ended up was around 20 kilometres.

The group had set off on a dive on Friday from the Mangrove area of Nusa Lembongan, an island off Bali

Fishermen spotted the divers some 20 km (12 miles) from where they set off for a diving expedition on Friday

A search involving about 100 people has been under way since the divers' disappearance, with rescue efforts hampered by heavy rain and strong winds earlier Monday

The divers could not initially be rescued because the waves were too high. They were seen by fishermen clinging to a coral reef

Yesterday, at Semawang beach a group of 20 Japanese people, including relatives of those missing, were seen sitting at a restaurant. One woman was crying and the others refused to be interviewed, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Four ambulances were waiting next to the beach for the divers to arrive, while dozens of Balinese people had also gathered.

A search involving about 100 people has been under way since the divers' disappearance, with rescue efforts hampered by heavy rain and strong winds earlier Monday.

'I'm praying for her safety,' the mother of missing instructor Shoko Takahashi told reporters in Japan on Sunday before leaving for Bali, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun daily.

'She is an active person with a dependable personality. She never does foolhardy things.'

The women were experienced scuba divers who had logged more than 50 dives each

The dive boat's skipper said he was following the divers for some 20 minutes before a sudden downpour made the water cloudy

Takahashi and her husband had set up the operator known as Yellow Scuba that took the divers out on the trip, said Japanese consular official Kenichi Takeyama.

Takeyama said Yellow Scuba had provided boats and staff for the search.

The women were experienced scuba divers who had logged more than 50 dives each.

The dive boat's skipper said he was following the divers for some 20 minutes before a sudden downpour made the water cloudy, according to Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

He moved his 10-metre-long boat to a point some hundreds of metres away where the divers were expected to resurface at an agreed time, the report said.

When they failed to resurface, the skipper said he searched for them for an hour before reporting the incident.



Search: Hundreds of searchers have scaled the seas near Bali for the scuba divers

Relatives arrived on the island of Nusa Lembongan yesterday

The dive boat's skipper was forced to move 100 yards away from the women when the weather became ferocious. The water clouded up and he lost sight of them, and they never emerged

A diving expert believes the choppy waves and rain could have stranded the women who were scuba diving

Volunteers, including this man, have come over from Japan to look for the five tourists and two instructors

But Bali province search and rescue chief Didi Hamzar told reporters on Sunday he had received information that the skipper had run out of fuel at some point, and had to refuel before heading to the agreed meeting spot.

John Chapman, a Briton who runs the World Diving Lembongan operation on the island where the women went missing, said the heavy rain and choppy sea could have been a factor in their disappearance.

He said a sudden downpour would have made some safety procedures, such as meeting at a brightly marked buoy, difficult because of poor visibility.

To assist rescue officials, Chapman on Sunday conducted a dive to simulate the group's, saying the current was 'quite gentle' but became much rougher when he surfaced.