REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- A local Search and Rescue helicopter searched Bali province's Nusa Lembongan waters on Saturday for seven Japanese tourists who were reported missing while diving in the waters the day before.

"We are using a helicopter to search for them from the air," spokesman of the local SAR agency, Gede Darmada, said on Saturday.

The BO 105 helicopter left the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport at 08.00 a.m. local time to search for the divers around Nusa Penida, an islet off Bali that has grown into a major tourist destination.

He said two boats also combed the waters in seeking the seven Japanese tourists and a tour guide, who is also a Japanese national.

Darmada said earlier that the Japanese tourists were reported missing on Friday (Feb 14) at 07.00 p.m. local time.

The Japanese tourists, all of them female, began diving in the Nusa Lembongan waters on Friday at about 01.30 p.m. local time.

By 02.00 p.m they had disappeared, said officials.

The tourism agent operator, who brought the tourists to the diving site, combed the location but found no one.

Unable to find the divers, the operator reported the incident to the local SAR team at 07:00 pm.

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