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07/10/2021 - Timothy Obi - Florida *** Fatal ***

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alb
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Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:41 pm

07/10/2021 - Timothy Obi - Florida *** Fatal ***

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Timothy Obi went spearfishing with friends Saturday morning. Obi and two
other divers did a safety stop together at 15 feet below the surface and then contact was
lost with Obi about five feet below the surface. The Pole Dancer notified the Coast Guard at
12h15 that the diver was missing. A Station Mayport rescue crew and an Air Station
Savannah helicopter crew launched. Naval Station Mayport-based USS Lassen assisted
with the search. The Coast Guard, the lead agency in the search, expanded the search area
to account for environmental conditions and potential drift. The Coast Guard said Monday
morning that Coast Guard Cutter Raymond Evans and the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission small boats were conducting surface searches, a U.S. Customs
and Border Protection aircraft was searching with advanced optical/infrared technology,
FWC had an air asset on scene, and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department planned
to conduct side sonar scanning. Obi’s friends and other volunteers also assisted in the
search, which covered more than 3,800 square nautical miles and lasted about 89 hours.
The search was continued by multiple agencies both on and below the surface of the water
but was suspended on Tuesday July 13, 2021, when diving equipment matching the
description of that worn by the missing diver was located at 14h00 about 250 yards from the
original dive location. The Obi family confirmed that the gear belonged to Mr. Timothy Obi.
According to the Coast Guard, The location and condition of the gear were consistent with a
suspected encounter with a marine predator.
However, it was Holden Harris, a marine biologist and Obi’s friend, who found Obi’s gear
while they were searching about 700 feet southeast of the initial dive site. Harris said that on
their first dive on Tuesday, they found Obi’s wetsuit. They moved the search pattern another
200 feet, where they found a buoyance compensator device, a tank, spear gun, mask and a
glove. To Harris, the condition of the gear suggests Obi had a medical emergency prior to a
predator encounter. He noted the fact that everything was found all in one place (within an
eight-foot radius) which indicates Obi did not struggle. Harris also pointed out that Obi had
his spear gun. If he had been attacked, he would have tried and been able to defend
himself, Harris said. “What seems to be probably a medical issue should not become a
huge story of a shark attack. It really wasn’t. It was sharks coming in afterwards,” Harris
said. “It’s a terrible thing ─ the worst thing ever, but today was really good for (the friends he
was diving with) to know that they did the absolute right thing, following every step. They
don’t have to ask themselves later is there something else they could have done,” he said.
Timothy Obi
On Tuesday night, a large vigil was held in Neptune Beach where friends and family gath-
ered to remember Obi, a father of three and husband

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