
Lyme Regis RNLI lifeboat crew launch after report of unconscious diver
Lyme Regis lifeboat was launched today (Sunday April 23) after reports that a diver was unconscious after he surfaced.
The alarm was raised at 2pm after the diver and his ‘buddy’ surfaced ten miles from Lyme Regis off West Bexington.
The diver was winched from the Portland-based dive boat, Skin Deeper, to a coastguard helicopter and taken to Poole for treatment.
His ‘buddy’ Jeff Everett, 67, was taken to Lyme Regis aboard the lifeboat and assessed by an ambulance crew at the lifeboat station and later allowed home.
Mr Everett, from Warlingham, Surrey, and his colleague were diving on the wreck of a World War two ship, St Dunstan.
He said: “We dived to 28 metres and my colleague, to whom I was tethered, gave me a signal that he was not okay so we started to ascend. Things seemed alright until we rose to about 10 metres when he did a rapid ascent and then I knew he was unwell.’
'When we surfaced, I inflated our lifejackets and we floated on our backs and signalled for help to our dive boat.”
Mr Everett, an accountant, has been diving for 40 years and added: “This was the first time I had been in any difficulty while diving. I have supported the RNLI for many years, and I am very grateful for their help.”
It is understood Mr. Everett’s colleague was taken to a diving chamber in Poole and later to Poole General Hospital where he was said to be recovering.
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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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