High-ranking U.S. female army officer drowns after diving for scallops in English Channel

High-ranking U.S. female army officer drowns after diving for scallops in English Channel

A woman diver who is feared to have drowned in the English Channel was a high-ranking U.S. army officer.

Lieutenant Colonel Mary Ewing, 45, was diving for scallops off Lulworth, Dorset, when she got into difficulty and became separated from her dive partner.

She failed to surface and a massive air and sea search was launched to find her.

The operation was scaled back after 24 hours with no sign of her.

Lt Col Ewing had been on a two year deployment to Britain and was working towards her Scuba instructor certificate when the tragedy happened last weekend.

The Lulworth Banks is a popular spot for scallop divers who often dive down from a buoy and drift on the tide while a boat tracks the buoy above.

Lt Col Ewing was a mother of five and lived in Alabama with her husband Terry Hawkins. She had seven granchildren.

She had spent 26 years in the U.S. army and had previously served in Iraq.

Rescue crews have been searching for her body for the last three days.

They were called out at 3.15pm on Saturday. The Portland Coastguard helicopter and six boats were soon involved in the operation.

But after searching for six hours there was still no sign of the missing diver.

Andy Sargent, from Weymouth Lifeboat, said: 'We searched the area quite thoroughly, it was quite a good search and it was dark and they suspended the operation so we stood the units down.'

Lulworth is part of Dorset's Jurassic Coast and has a stunning shoreline which attracts people from all over the world.

Read morehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364498/Mary-Ewing-High-rank-US-female-army-officer-drowns-English-Channel.html#ixzz1GAIdjheC

EDIT: firstly rest in peace to the officer and second i didn't notice she was American so this is kinda in the wrong section, though she was deployed in Britain so ya.. w/e

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