Three scuba divers who had gone missing during a dive at Aliwal Shoal were found safe ashore at Umgababa on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Friday afternoon after apparently swimming over seven kilometres through rough seas.

National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Durban station commander Clifford Ireland on Saturday said an experienced local dive charter lead diver and a French couple swam to shore when they could not regain sight of their dive boat.

"It appears that the three divers had surfaced away from their dive boat at the same time that visibility was reduced by weather conditions and they had waited at their surfacing position for about 40 minutes.

Three divers missing at top KZN shark diving spot Police rescue divers and volunteers from the NSRI are searching for three missing scuba divers at Aliwal Shoal‚ an hour south of Durban.

"But after not regaining sight of their dive boat and not knowing what had become of their dive boat and skipper‚ they had then initiated a swim towards shore and on reaching the shoreline they were found safe‚" he said.

The NSRI Durban duty crew were activated by the Transnet National Ports Authority on Friday afternoon following reports that the three scuba divers were missing at Aliwal Shoal‚ off-shore of Umkomaas.

"NSRI Durban dispatched a sea rescue vehicle and the sea rescue craft Eikos Rescuer II was placed on alert. NSRI Shelly Beach towed the sea rescue craft Spirit of Dawn to be launched at Umkomaas and NSRI Port Edward dispatched a sea rescue vehicle to join a shoreline search‚" Ireland said.

The NSRI Air Sea Rescue was activated and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre initiated a search pattern.

Eight local dive boats and private boats from the area had launched to join the sea search while dive companies dispatched 4x4 vehicles to conduct a shoreline search.

"During the search carried out by the local dive boats and private boats and before NSRI sea rescue craft and air resources were launched the three divers were found safe ashore at Umgababa after they had managed to swim to shore.

"No one was injured and no further assistance was required‚" Ireland said.

TMG Digital/TImesLIVE