Search for missing diver ends

The male diver was with a club group from the Swansea area, diving on the WWI wreck Benton Castle in Start Bay on Sunday.

Operating from the Dartmouth-based charter boat Falcon II, two pairs were on open circuit and another pair on rebreathers.

The problem developed at the end of the dive.

The boat’s skipper, Tony Hoile, has confirmed that the open circuit divers and one of the rebreather divers surfaced up the shotline.

The second rebreather diver did not appear and a deployed DSMB was monitored until “the decompression period became excessive”.

The Coastguard was “alerted of a potential problem” and a diver descended down the DSMB line to establish that no diver was hanging off it.

Searches were conducted by the Coastguard’s Portland helicopter, Torbay Lifeboat and Dartmouth Inshore Lifeboat, a warship, a number of fishing and recreational vessels and Coastguard shoreline search teams.

In quiet weather conditions, no trace of the missing diver was found.

Torbay BSAC stood by with its vessel Torbay Diver, but diving was not possible due to an increasing tidal flow.

Falcon II returned to the dive site at another slack water with three divers who searched the wreck, which lies in 37m of water and rises to 29m.

Further dives were conducted from Falcon II yesterday by the Devon and Cornwall Police Diving Unit.

An ROV from Inshore Fisheries Conservation was also used.

Devon and Cornwall Police has confirmed to Divernet today that, having run that operation, “the search is concluded”.  

Related links
Diver lost in West Scotland
BSAC analyses diving incidents