WEYMOUTH, UK (20 Oct 2008) — A man died after he surfaced unconscious during a diving incident off the South West coast. The diver, believed to be from Somerset and in his fifties, had got into difficulty while diving off the coast of Weymouth near Portland Bill. Portland coastguards received a distressed call at 9.37am yesterday from the dive boat Shiraz, who reported that they were trying to recover an unconscious diver from the water just east of Grove Point. Police were informed by Portland coastguards at 10.15am. A coastguard spokesman said: "He surfaced unconscious, but we do not know what was wrong with him." Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 106 was scrambled to the dive boat and other dive vessels in the area also moved in to recover other divers from the water at the time. The unconscious male diver was airlifted to Dorset County Hospital to be met by a team from accident and emergency. However, he was later pronounced dead by hospital staff at 12.45pm. A Dorset police spokesman added: "His next of kin has been informed, but he will not be formally identified until today." This is the second time in two years a diver had been involved in an incident involving the Shiraz diving boat. | | On October 29, 2006, a man diving off the Dorset coast had to be airlifted to hospital after a fishing boat accidentally trawled him up. The man, in his 40s, had been diving from the Shiraz, at a depth of 14m (46ft) when he was pulled up along with the fishing vessel's catch. He started to suffer from the bends and the coastguard helicopter had to be sent to the dive boat east of Portland to pick up the diver. |
