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A BRITISH Shell oil boss and his 14-year-old son are feared dead after being “abandoned” near a Malaysian island on a diving trip.
Adrian Chesters, 46, and Nathen were taking part in a training exercise off Pulau Tokong Sanggol, near Mersing, while their captain was high on meth.
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The father and son were part of a group of four enjoying the excursion before their boat returned to the port without them on Wednesday.
A huge rescue mission was launched to track down the deserted Brit, his teen son, an 18-year-old French woman, and a 35-year-old Norweigan woman.
The captain gave a statement to cops in the coastal town of Mersing after reporting the divers missing before he was arrested.
He tested positive for methamphetamine after a urine sample was taken, suggesting he was high while driving the boat.
Hope is fading fast that the divers will be found alive after they were left stranded and have yet to surface.
Miraculously, the group’s instructor Kristine Grodem was rescued on Thursday, 30 nautical miles from where they were dumped.
She was airlifted to hospital in a stable condition after spending a terrifying night in the sea, police confirmed.
According to authorities, the four had been in the water for 40 minutes when they “failed to return after undergoing a diving exercise”.
Divers, helicopters, vessels and over 90 officials have scoured the sea to locate the missing trio – which includes French woman Alexia Alexandra Molina, 18.
But the two teens and the Brit Shell boss still remain unaccounted for.
Mersing police chief Superintendent Cyril Edward Nuing said the divers could not see their boat when they resurfaced and ended up drifting in strong currents.
He explained: “The instructor tried to keep all of them together but they got separated.
“We believe the three victims will be found safe as they are experienced divers.”
Dad Adrian, from Sheffield, had only recently moved his family to Malaysia after rising the ranks through Shell.
He had worked as the senior engineer behind the company’s extremely successful Appomattox rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office has confirmed it remains in contact with Malaysian authorities regarding the Brit.
Local politician Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi assured the families of those missing that officials and searchers are doing “whatever we can to find them”.
A hunt involving boats from the coastguard, the police and the fisheries department kicked off on Wednesday at 2.45pm (6.45am GMT).
Senior coastguard official Nurul Hizam Zakaria said the group had disappeared during a training exercise in Pulau Tokong Sanggol – a small island around nine nautical miles from Tanjung Leman, Mersing.
The area is popular with tourists as it has resorts dotted along the coast and on nearby islands.
Diving accidents are considered rare in Malaysia.
However, in 2013, a Brit tourist died when she was struck by a passing boat’s propeller while diving off resort islands in the South China Sea.
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