Twelve rescued as dive boat sinks

Twelve people have been rescued from the sea off Salcombe in Devon after their 40ft (12m) dive boat sank.

The divers from London let off a flare when their boat, Aquanaut, started taking in water, sinking in about eight minutes off Bolt Head on Saturday.

The divers were spotted by the crew of a passing yacht which took two on board while the rest got into a life raft. A lifeboat took them all into Salcombe.

The divers were with the Aquanauts Dive Centre, based in Plymouth...[Link]

Seven scuba divers rescued off Cornwall

Seven scuba divers were rescued after they were swept out to sea off Porthgwarra near Lands End this afternoon.

Coastguard officials told CDNN that walkers spotted the divers and called for help.

Falmouth Coastguard organized a search that involved the Lands End Coastguard Rescue Team, who happened to be training in the area when the accident occurred.

The Sennen Cove RNLI launched both inshore and all weather lifeboats and a rescue helicopter was scrambled from RNAS Culdrose.

The crew of the inshore lifeboat found five of the scuba divers about a quarter mile off Gwennap head and pulled them aboard.

The helicopter spotted the other two divers on rocks and notified the inshore lifeboat, which rescued them...[CDNN]

This Had To Hurt: Fishing Spear Ricochets, Hits Diver in The Head

A diver who was hit in the head by a fishing spear that ricocheted off rocks off the coast of Brazil underwent five hours of surgery, but should be fine because the six-inch-long projectile missed vital parts of his brain.

Emerson de Oliveira Abreu is expected to make a full recovery, and the only thing that may not return to normal is his sense of smell.

He was diving off the coast of Rio de Janeiro when he fired the spear.

It penetrated his skull just above his left eye after it ricocheted.

His father says it’s a miracle his son is going be OK...[KWTX.com]

New device could help pinpoint lost scuba divers

Every year international headlines report cases of scuba divers who have been lost at sea. Some of these incidents end happily as in the case of the divers who were rescued from a remote Indonesian desert island in 2008. Sometimes, as in the case of Eileen and Tom Lonergan who were diving on the Great Barrier Reef the divers are 'lost presumed dead'.

In response to this the team at thediveflag has invented a new dive flag that will enable divers to quickly indicate their position to boats at distances up to 3 kilometres.

Manufacturers of the H.E.L.P. (Handheld Emergency Location Pinpointer) have taken advantage of the findings of various official studies into emergency diver signaling devices and come up with a safety device that can be seen up to 3 kilometers away.

Utilizing a yellow flag on top of a telescopic pole the H.E.L.P. is one of the most effective means of making divers visible to their dive-boat and other potential rescue vessels. Though it has the capability to extend to as much as 1.5 meters when required it can collapse down to a mere 20cm and fit into a buoyancy jacket pocket. The neat little device is equipped with a non-slip handle and weighs only 150g. Being so compact means that it can be taken on every dive as standard equipment yet is immediately available to use in an emergency situation.

In the past divers tended to rely upon 'safety sausages' to act as a signal of their position. The British Health and Safety Executive discovered that, though useful, safety sausages have a number of disadvantages in that they are not always easy to use and are nowhere near as visible as the yellow emergency flag. Divers on the surface in rough conditions, caught in a current or experiencing any kind of difficulty need to be collected by their boats quickly. The H.E.L.P. is one of the most effective means of being spotted fast and thus being picked up in the minimum amount of time...[BYMNews.com]

Friends Save Life of Diver With the Bends

QUICK-thinking divers saved the life of their pal after he suffered the bends.
The South Tyneside diver was given oxygen and fluid before being airlifted by an RAF helicopter 70 miles to hospital for emergency treatment.

The 43-year-old could have had a fatal heart attack without the intervention of his diving group, who were taking part in a dive in Wales yesterday. Julie Cheeseman, watch officer with Holyhead Coastguard, said today: "The group knew their stuff and were well-prepared, which can be the difference between life and death."

The man had been out of the water at Dorothea Quarry, at Dyffryn Nantlle, Gwynedd, for 15 minutes when he experienced symptoms of decompression sickness including sickness and vertigo. The group gave him first aid, and alerted the coastguard at 12.50pm. The lake at Dorothea Quarry is up to 300ft deep in places and has claimed the lives of more than 20 people since 1994...[TheShieldsGazette]

Woman survives 20 minutes under boat

A woman was trapped under a yacht for more than 20 minutes while her friends clung on for their lives after the vessel capsized returning from a Bass Strait diving trip.
Gwen Fisher was stuck under the upturned catamaran after it was flipped by a wave just outside the heads of Port Phillip Bay.

Diving companion Rob Laurie went under the boat to find Ms Fisher and stayed with her in an air pocket until water police freed the pair, while their three frantic friends held on to the yacht's hull.

The group was trapped in the ocean in strong currents and drifting in a terrifying ordeal when crew on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry spotted their upturned yacht just before 11.30am (AEDT) and radioed emergency services.

The group, from Victoria's La Trobe Valley, was on a scuba diving trip and was returning to the safety of Port Phillip Bay from Bass Strait when the catamaran was knocked over.

In the confusion, Mr Laurie feared the worst...[HeraldSun]

20 rescued from stranded dive boat

More than 20 people have been rescued from a scuba diving boat after it ran aground on a reef 40 kilometres off the Queensland coast.

The boat, operated by scuba diving company Nautilus, hit Flinders Reef off the coast of Redcliffe at 8.30pm on Saturday night after its mooring line caught in the propeller.

The tide and wind pushed it aground.

Four rescue vessels ferried the 18 divers to safety across the shallow reef in the dark...[SkyNews.com]