4 divers who were lost at sea off the Carolinas were rescued when the Coast Guard spotted lights bobbing in the water after midnight

• Four lost divers off the coast of the Carolinas were rescued by the Coast Guard early Monday.
• Coast Guard rescue crews saw flashing lights in the water after midnight, hours after the divers went missing.

Four divers who were lost at sea off the coast of the Carolinas were rescued alive early Monday after the Coast Guard spotted strobe lights bobbing in the water just after midnight.

The three men and a teenager — Ben Wiggins, 64; Luke Lodge, 26; Daniel Williams, 46; and Evan Williams, 16, a father and son — went missing after noon on Sunday, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The divers had gone into the water about 63 miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, but never resurfaced, the Coast Guard said.

Member of the Coast Guard's North Carolina sector sent out six crews to carry out the search for the divers, which stretched into the night, according to the statement.

Over 12 hours later at 12:45 a.m., an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew spotted an SOS flashing strobe light on infrared footage, US Coast Guard Petty Officer Second Class Katie Lipe told Insider.

The Coast Guard team searching for the missing divers used the information from the infrared cameras to find the divers bobbing in the water.

The C-130 flew lower and dropped a life raft for the divers as a motorized lifeboat raced to get to them, but rescuers were still two hours away, Lipe said.

In the meantime, the C-130 crew spoke with the US Navy Destroyer ship USS Porter, which was within nine miles of the divers and got to them safely.

The small lifeboat made it to the destroyer and took the divers to get medical attention and be reunited with their families at 6:10 a.m. — roughly 18 hours after they first went missing.

"Any time we launch a search and rescue case, our goal is always to reunite them with their friends and family; And in this case, that is exactly what we were able to do, which is always a great feeling for our rescue crew," US Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Jonathan Lally said in a statement to Insider.

Lipe stressed the importance of diving with some kind of signal device as these divers did, whether that be a strobe light or flare, which are "important in the event you need to be rescued."

It was not clear, though, what kind of flashing light was used in this case. It could have been a standalone strobe light or "firefly" life vests, which contain a flashing strobe light.

She said that the divers also had a communications device on their vessel which helped to reach the Coast Guard when they were in danger.