The U.S. Coast guard says divers have found a body about 90 metres from where a Canadian filmmaker went missing while scuba diving off the Florida Keys earlier this week.
Rob Stewart, a 37-year-old award-winning documentarian from Toronto, disappeared Tuesday night shortly after surfacing from a diving expedition off the coast of Islamorada, Fla.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced the tragic discovery around 6 p.m. EST Friday. The body was found at a depth of about 67 metres by divers from the Key Largo volunteer fire department, the Coast Guard said in a tweeted update.
The body’s identity has yet to be confirmed, but the Coast Guard said the team “reportedly found Stewart.”
Shortly after the discovery was made, Stewart’s sister wrote in a Facebook statement that “Rob has been found, peacefully in the ocean.”
“There are no words. We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved. We are working on how best to honour his incredible work,” Alexandra Stewart wrote.
The finding came shortly after the Coast Guard announced that it planned to call off the search for before dark.
Capt. Jeffrey Janszen, commander of Coast Guard Sector Key West, said Friday afternoon that officials searched a 5,500-square-mile area of the ocean – a stretch of water about the size of Connecticut -- with no sign of the missing diver.
“We have saturated the area. We are confident we have done everything we can,” Janszen said. “My heart and prayers go out to the Stewart family.”
Stewart, an environmental activist, is best known for his 2006 documentary “Sharkwater,” which examines global shark hunting and its impact on the ocean ecosystem. The documentary debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and has won more than 40 awards at festivals around the world.
Since his disappearance, Stewart’s family and friends have launched a GoFundMe page asking for divers and other people to assist with the search.
