Press Notice No: 53-12
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Posted 22:58 GMT

At just after 11am Clyde Coastguard received a call from dive boat Brendan reporting that one of their divers was missing.

The diver became separated from the rest of his group while exploring the wreck of the cargo ship Breda, one of Scotlands most-dived wrecks which is located in Ardmucknish Bay near Oban.

Clyde Coastguard broadcast a distress alert to all other shipping in the area, asking for their help to find the missing diver while Oban RNLI Lifeboat and the Royal Navy rescue helicopter from HMS Gannet made their way to the scene. Oban and Appin Coastguard Rescue Teams were sent to search the shoreline area just incase the diver had made his way back to shore.

The helicopter and lifeboat arrived on scene to find that the dive vessels Peregrin and Tritonia had sent divers down to search the wreck. These divers came back to the surface to enable the helicopter and lifeboat to carry out an extensive air and sea search. Unfortunately the diver was not found.

Graeme Watters Clyde Watch Manager said:
Coastguard Rescue Officers from Oban carried out a second shoreline search at high water to check again whether this diver made it ashore and but sadly nothing was found. A search in the vicinity of the wreck was also carried out by Navy divers but nothing was found.

We do not know what went wrong with this dive but our advice to all divers is make sure you are adequately qualified and experienced for the dive you plan to undertake and that you keep a close eye on weather and sea conditions. Personal fitness is a top priority for safe diving and so you should be familiar with new or different gear before planning deep dives.

-Ends-

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Posted By: Joanne Groenenberg

For further details contact:
The Maritime & Coastguard Agency Press Office
023 8032 9401