A 59-year-old Spanish diver was rescued by South African emergency services after spending more than three hours adrift at Protea Banks on 20 November.
The 59-year-old had surfaced away from the dive-boat and out of sight of the crew before beginning to drift further away. Shelly Beach tower control received reports from one of a pair of charter dive-boats that a diver had gone missing off Port Shepstone in Kwa-Zulu Natal at around 9am, and that they had been searching for her.
The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre took over the operation and National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) lifeboat crews were deployed from Shelly Beach and Port Edward.
A Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) helicopter, three private fixed-wing aircraft and recreational fishing boats also took part in the search and rescue operation, while police teams checked the shoreline.
Amid 4-5m swells and strong north-easterly winds, the helicopter rescue crew eventually spotted the woman waving frantically at 12.20pm. The lifeboats were diverted from their search positions in the direction of the helicopter as it hovered above the diver, and one of them picked her up.
The diver had travelled more than 16km by the time she was spotted. “Our crews found her to be relieved to be rescued, in good spirits and not injured,” reported NSRI. “She was brought to NSRI Shelly Beach, where she was reunited with her fellow-divers in an emotional reunion.”
Dive-boat sank near wreck
In the USA, two scuba divers visiting a shipwreck site 5km off the New York coast found their dive-boat taking on water and sinking rapidly, and were left adrift with the captain, according to the US Coast Guard.
The divers had been kitted up, though it was not clear whether they had been under water or about to dive.
On receiving an urgent marine information broadcast, the Coast Guard deployed boats from two stations to the site of the 18m-deep Iberia wreck south of Long Beach on the afternoon of 10 November. Crew of the Jones Beach lifeboat spotted and recovered the three, whose boat had disappeared by this time.
“The vessel master reported that the boat sank rapidly, but he managed to escape through a bow hatch,” reported the Coast Guard. Emergency medical services brought the three to a hospital for examination but no serious injuries were reported.
Also on Divernet: Scuba diver endures 5hr drift – then hikes, Divers swim for safety from Aliwal Shoal, British diver dies in South Africa
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