Potato Harbor on the western facet of Santa Cruz Island, Calif., considered from the cliffs above.
GaryKavanagh/Getty Images/iStockphotoHuman stays had been recovered from an underwater cave close to a big island off the California coast and may belong to a diver who went lacking in 2020, officers stated in a Nov. 14 news release.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and company divers responded to a report of a body near the ocean ground close to Santa Cruz Island’s Painted Cave Preserve on Nov. 11, the discharge stated. The stays had been transported to the sheriff’s workplace’s coroner’s bureau for additional investigation, the place coroner’s detectives plan to aim to establish it utilizing speedy DNA testing. They hope to have outcomes subsequent week. The sheriff’s workplace will share the decedent’s id when it’s confirmed and the subsequent of kin have been notified, workplace press representatives instructed SFGATE through electronic mail.
The discovery of the deceased diver has led authorities to consider it may be linked to the diver who went missing in 2020.
Ryder Sturt, 31, of Ventura, Calif., vanished in the identical space two years in the past when he and a companion went trying to find lobster, a December 2020 news launch from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office stated. His companion referred to as for assist when Sturt dove off the 20-foot-long boat however by no means resurfaced. Sturt’s sudden disappearance sparked an exhaustive agencywide search with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office Underwater Search and Recovery Team, the U.S. Coast Guard and a number of different businesses primarily based in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Despite deploying vessels, helicopters and specialised divers to assist find Sturt, he was by no means found.
At almost 1 / 4 mile lengthy and 100 toes extensive, the Painted Cave is among the largest and deepest caves in the world, in keeping with the National Park Service web site. Covered in vibrant lichens, rocks and algae and residential to a fascinating waterfall, it’s hardly probably the most outstanding pure landmark on Santa Cruz Island, which is 20 miles off the coast from Ventura. Santa Cruz Island is a part of Channel Islands National Park and has 77 miles of steep coastal cliffs, huge sea caves and tide pods, making it an alluring ecological jewel.