EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The search has been suspended for the former East Hartford police officer after he went missing in the Bahamas, according to the United States Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard said he was last seen diving in the Bahamas.
The Coast Guard wrote in a post on Twitter on Sunday that they are assisting the Royal Bahamas Defense Force in a search for a missing U.S. citizen who was last seen free diving in the area of the Bimini Barge Wreck on Friday, 1.5 miles west of Bimini Inlet in the Bahamas.
The Coast Guard then followed up in a Twitter post on Sunday saying the search has been suspended. The crews searched more than 673 square miles.
FOX61 has been in contact with a close friend to the officer who is helping to provide details for the story. The individual missing has been identified as retired Officer Ryan Proulx of the East Hartford Police Department, who is currently a charter boat captain out of Westerly, Rhode Island.
Proulx was last seen wearing a green top with red fins, the Coast Guard said.
Proulx's father, Bill Proulx, is also a former police officer from East Hartford, retiring from the force in 2002. Proulx also goes fishing, trains dogs and harvests maple syrup with his father, a friend of Ryan Proulx told FOX61.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen Richard Blumenthal said that he had spoken to Proulx's father, "I am determined to seek every possible avenue to find Ryan and am working closely with the State Department and the U.S. Navy to assist in the search. My thoughts are with the Proulx family during this unimaginably difficult time made so much more tragic on Ryan's 32nd birthday today."
FOX61 has reached out to the East Hartford Police Department for comment.
This is a developing story. Please stay tuned to this page for updates.
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