A DIVER who is feared dead after going missing in Weymouth Bay is a high-ranking American soldier.

Police are continuing the search for a 45-year-old woman who went missing on Saturday afternoon after going diving for scallops off the Jurassic Coast.

The woman was named by press in America yesterday as Lieutenant Colonel Mary Ewing from Arab, Alabama.

Lt. Col. Ewing is described as being a Master Diver who was working towards her scuba instructor certificate.

According to reports the immediate family was notified by members of the armed services late on Sunday afternoon.

The mother of five lived in Alabama with her husband Terry Hawkins and had seven grandchildren and is believed to be in the middle of a two-year deployment in England.

Lt Col Ewing has served her country for almost 26 years and is reported to be a decorated soldier. She is said to have done numerous tours overseas including a deployment in Iraq.

Dorset Police were called at 5pm on Saturday by Portland Coastguard and told that a search operation involving the coastguard helicopter and Weymouth Lifeboat was underway for the diver.

Both lifeboats were launched at 3.30pm on Saturday and spent six hours searching the area before being stood down.

Weymouth Lifeboat Coxswain Andy Sargent, said: “We searched the area quite thoroughly, it was quite a good search and it was dark and they suspended the operation so we stood the units down.”

It is believed that Lt. Col Ewing was diving at Adamant Shoal near the Lulworth Banks with the Portland-based boat Scimitar and got separated from her dive buddy and did not resurface.

The area is popular with scallop divers and Grahame Knott, the chairman of the Weymouth and Portland Dive Charter Association said that the practise used to scallop dive was likely to be ‘drift diving.’ Scallopers dive down from a buoy and drift in the tide while a dive boat tracks the buoy.

He added that the practice was normal and ‘not risky.’ A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “The search is still continuing for the missing woman and other agencies are involved in the search. We are not naming the woman and will not be releasing pictures. The family have been informed.”

The police could neither confirm nor deny that the missing diver was Lt. Col. Ewing.

The American Embassy in London said: “We understand from media reports that the missing diver may be an American and we are in touch with the appropriate UK authorities.”