Near the town of Mersing, a party of four people, including Adrian Chesters, 46, and Nathen, 14, were swimming in water that was 49 feet deep.
A massive search and rescue effort was started in an attempt to locate the missing divers when their boat returned to port without them on Wednesday.
An interview with Mersing police was conducted, and the captain’s urine sample tested positive for methamphetamine, which led to his detention.
Investigators are investigating whether or not he was under the influence of the substance at the time of the occurrence.
An 18-year-old French woman is still missing, as is Adrian’s Dutch son Nathen, as well as 35-year-old diving master Kristine Grodem.
The instructor, a Norwegian national, was found 30 nautical miles from where the party was training for their advanced diving licenses.
Authorities said that after 40 minutes in the water, the gang was unable to locate their boat when they surfaced.
‘The instructor tried to keep all of them together, but they got separated,’ Mersing police head Superintendent Cyril Edward Nuing said.
As divers, we are confident that the three missing people will be discovered alive.’
A total of 90 people, including rescue divers and two planes, are working to locate the three people still unaccounted for, but there is little reason to believe they will be discovered alive.
According to Section 15(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, the captain is currently under investigation by police, who will examine the diving gear and the location.
When the captain appeared before the Mersing district police headquarters at 11.30 p.m. Wednesday, Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said, he was arrested.
How Did Adrian Chesters Die?
During a diving trip off the coast of Malaysia, a British Shell engineer and his adolescent son were abandoned nine miles from shore and are now presumed dead.
Before moving to Malaysia with his family, Chesters had worked as a senior engineer on Shell’s Appomattox rig in the Gulf of Mexico for more than two decades.
Foreign Office officials say they’re in touch with their counterparts in that country.
First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said Grodem was discovered by a tugboat.
In waters off Tanjung Sedili in Kota Tinggi, Indonesia, around 8.15 a.m. local time, she was ‘floating and completely equipped’ with her diving gear.
Grodem was airlifted to the hospital and is currently in a stable condition, according to reports.
