Missing diver found

[PuraVida]

By ANA X. CERON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 31, 2008
FORT PIERCE — A man who was reported missing during a Friday afternoon dive was found alert and responsive this morning just off the Jensen Beach shore.
Fort Lauderdale firefighter Patrick Scartozzi, 43, was reported missing at about 12:50 p.m. from a boat about seven miles from the St. Lucie Inlet. He had gone in the water around noon that day
Scartozzi, an experienced diver, had been in the water roughly 22 hours when a Coast Guard helicopter found him shortly before 10 a.m. about a mile from the beach and six miles from his dive site, Fort Pierce Coast Guard station petty officer Larry Blakeslee said.
"He was alert and responsive and was able to give the helicopter crew information," Blakeslee said.
Scartozzi was sent to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach for a check up and treatment.
Scartozzi is a lieutenant with the Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue department and lives in Palm City with his wife and three children.
He had gone out spear fishing when he went missing, Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Lt. Jason Morss said this morning. Morss and other officials from the Fort Lauderdale department were heading to St. Mary's Medical Center to check on their fellow firefighter.
"It's still a little surreal," Morss said on the ride to the hospital. "It was such an intensive search ... things weren't looking so great for him. We were still very positive ... (but) it makes it all even better."