A RECREATIONAL diver said he was ‘completely bewildered’ and shocked to discover what he believes to be the diving gear of a missing American Army colonel who was lost at sea two months ago.

Weymouth diver Steve Barsky, 54, came across a neoprene wetsuit and a diver’s tank under the water near the Lulworth Banks.

Police have since confirmed that what Mr Barsky saw was likely to be the body of Lieutenant Colonel Mary Ewing.

Lieut Col Ewing, 45, from Alabama, went missing on March 5 after going diving for scallops off the Jurassic Coast.

The soldier and mum-of-five was on a two-year-deployment in England.

Following Mr Barsky’s dive Dorset Police resumed their search for her body.

Mr Barsky said: “I was on a drift dive about 55 minutes into my dive when I saw a diver’s bottle on the seabed with a cord leading away from it.

“I could only see about a foot in front of me and things were a bit jumbled, but the next thing that came into focus was a neoprene wetsuit.

“I suddenly felt this was not normal and that something didn’t seem right.”

Mr Barsky surfaced so the dive boat skipper could mark on the GPS where exactly the find had been located.

He added: “Every minute I spent down there meant that I was drifting further and further from the boat.

“All of this was happening as an electrical storm was going on overhead and to be honest, I was completely bewildered.”

Later he was interviewed by police and officers informed him that an unclothed dummy had been used during the original search for tracking purposes.

Mr Barsky does not believe he saw a dummy because of the fact he saw a wetsuit and a diver’s tank.