PORTHGWARRA, UK (12 Apr 2009) — 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. Falmouth Coastguard Watch Manager Marc Thomas said the group was comprised of divers who lacked experience and should not have been scuba diving in areas prone to strong tidal currents. "These divers were fortunate that the walkers spotted them and reported their plight to us, and that we were able to get rescue resources to them so quickly," Thomas said. "The currents in that particular area are strong and it is easy to be swept away...since they were already at Lands End, their next stop, if they had not been rescued so swiftly, would have been the Isles of Scilly." | 
