Missing diver's epic swim to safety

Dorset Echo -

A missing diver was found alive and well shortly before a massive air and sea rescue operation was called off.

The diver managed to defy the odds by swimming for four hours to shore after becoming separated from his boat.

He stumbled ashore and made his way to the top of the cliff where he managed to alert the emergency services.

A major rescue operation was launched after he disappeared off the coast close to the Lulworth Banks off Ringstead yesterday afternoon.

Portland Coastguard received an emergency call at 4pm and tasked the search and rescue helicopter, Weymouth all-weather and inshore lifeboats and Dorset Police’s inflatable rib craft to scour the area for the missing man.

Local boats in the area also answered a call to join in the hunt.

A spokesman for the coastguard said: “We received a call at 4pm of a missing male diver in Weymouth Bay and we got the helicopter, two lifeboats and police rib and various other local boats on scene.

“It is believed that a couple of people had gone scalloping, it wasn’t a dive boat he was with.”

The man is believed to have been wearing full scuba diving gear.

Coastguards were close to calling off the search when the man was found on the coast near Ringstead shortly before 8pm.

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