By Sophia Santana and Lia Lehrer
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday morning rescued a Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue lieutenant who went missing during a recreational dive a day earlier off the coast of Martin County.

Patrick Scartozzi, 46, of Palm City, was hospitalized at St. Mary's Medical Center in stable condition, officials said. Visitors at his hospital room Saturday afternoon said they expected Scartozzi would be released today.

He was diving with a friend several miles east of the St. Lucie Inlet, near Stuart, when he failed to surface after what was supposed to be a 25-minute dive, according to the Coast Guard. A friend who had been diving with Scartozzi reported him missing about 12:40 p.m. Friday, prompting a massive search that included Coast Guard aircraft, watercraft and help from the sheriff's offices and firefighters in Martin and St. Lucie counties.

The Coast Guard found Scartozzi, who had been in the water close to 24 hours, about one mile off the coast of Jensen Beach. The area is just north of the St. Lucie Inlet and about six miles from where Scartozzi had been diving, officials said.