PHUKET: Diving industry stakeholders on Phuket are to look at whether drinking alcohol should be banned following the disappearance of an American diver who was said to be ''very drunk'' at the time.

Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong also said today that an action group would examine whether dive boats should be restricted to early morning departures, not late at night when drinking might be encouraged.

Pattaya-based Mermaids Dive Centre also issued a statement today about the disappearance of American diver Joshua Devine, 36, expressing hope that he will soon be reunited with friends and family.

The statement spells out the timetable of what took place on the hired liveaboard dive boat last weekend off Phuket and the reaction of those involved.

This afternoon, US embassy vice consul Justin T. Walls met behind closed doors at Phuket Provincial Hall with Governor Nisit and other leading officials, including senior police and the Marine Office 5 chief.

Unusually, there was no opportunity after the session for Phuket reporters to talk to the governor or Mr Walls.

US outlets are reporting that Mr Devine's mother and sister are flying to Phuket.

His wife, Tadsana, who was on the boat at the time Mr Devine disappeared and has criticised some aspects of the search as being more like ''sight-seeing,'' was not at today's meeting.

Before the meeting with the US vice consul, Governor Nisit told a Phuketwan journalist that daily searches will continue until Mr Devine is found.

A Marine Police vessel searched again today and was joined for about two hours by a Royal Thai Navy helicopter. Local officials and fishing networks along the Andaman coast have been told to look out for Mr Devine.

The statement posted at Mermaids Dive Centre on Facebook reads as follows:

''Mermaids Dive Center regrets to announce a passenger went missing on 11 April 2015 at approximately 5 AM while traveling on a vessel that had departed Phuket for the Similan Islands the night before. The vessel is a hired liveaboard dive boat that Mermaids Dive Center contracted, as the Similan Islands is not a regularly scheduled dive location. Although many customers on the vessel were booked through Mermaids Dive Center, some customers booked directly with the liveaboard company. The incident did not occur during a scheduled dive.

''Search and rescue operations remain underway, and Mermaids Dive Center sincerely hopes that the missing passenger will soon be reunited with his friends and family. Mermaids Dive Center has reached out to the missing passenger's family, and is deeply concerned with the outcome of the search for the missing passenger, the wellbeing of the missing passenger's family, and everyone affected by this unfortunate event. Mermaids Dive Center continues to work closely with all regulatory bodies involved in the investigation.

''Upon learning that the passenger was missing, members of the dive trip immediately searched the vessel, and failing to locate the missing passenger, the vessel backtracked to the area the missing passenger was last seen. The dive boat then conducted an ocean search for the missing passenger in a logical, planned manner using large spotlights while many members of the dive trip assisted with torches. At the same time the boat captain started initiating radio contact with the Royal Thai Navy, Royal Thai Police, rescue services, as well as other vessels in the area. The location was not within cellular coverage.

''Rescue services personnel arrived at the dive boat at approximately 10 AM after successful contact by the dive boat at approximately 6:30 AM. The dive boat continued searching the area until the Royal Thai Police arrived at approximately 1:30 PM. The Royal Thai Police took control of the incident after initial interviews with the boat crew and some passengers were completed. The missing passenger's spouse left the dive boat with the Royal Thai Police and the dive boat departed from the search area at approximately 3 PM. At approximately 10:30 AM Mermaids Dive Center contacted the US Embassy to report the incident and provided all available information.

''As the incident is currently under investigation, Mermaids Dive Center will be unable to offer further comments at this time. Mermaids Dive Center will respect all comments posted in response to this announcement. Emails may be sent to dive@mermaidsdivecenter.com.''

Mrs Devine, originally from the Pattaya region, has said her husband frequently visited Thailand to dive and trained up to instructor level at Mermaids, where he knew some of the staff well.

The couple lived in Kuwait, where Mr Devine, an IT contractor, worked with the US military.