Enfield Family Wants Answers After Former CT National Guardsman Vanishes in Thailand

A veteran and former National Guardsman whose family lives in Enfield and Manchester, has vanished while on a scuba-diving excursion in Thailand.

Joshua Devine’s mother and sister, who live in Manchester and Enfield, said the 36-year-old was last seen the morning of April 11, shortly after arriving in Thailand for a coastal cruise. He went missing from the Liveaboard tour boat that was headed for a dive trip in the Similan Islands.

Devine’s sister, Jennifer Bakowski, and mother, Marie Gallant Major, told WFSB that they plan to travel to the Southeast Asian country to continue the search that has been called off by Thai authorities. Bakowski said she doesn’t believe accounts of Thai officials because “it doesn’t sound like my brother.”

Devine, a decorated soldier who served two tours and later became a military IT contractor, is a certified scuba diver, according to Fox Connecticut.

According to Major’s post on the Internet fund-raising site GoFundMe, Thai police won’t resume a search because of a weeklong national holiday.

The family is seeking to raise $10,000 to defray their travel costs to the country to search for the former Connecticut National Guardsman who they believe is still alive.

Within 20 hours of setting up the GoFundMe page ‘Bring Josh Home,’ nearly $6,400 has been donated as of late Tuesday morning.

The WFSB story can be found here.

The Fox Connecticut story can be found here.

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Photo credit: WFSB.