8:28am Wednesday 8th July 2009
A TOP scallop diver was dramatically rescued after he vanished diving off the Dorset coast.
An air and sea rescue operation was launched and a warship on exercise joined in the hunt.
Darren Brown, 41, from Bovington, supplies top chefs like Jamie Oliver with his hand-picked scallops.
The rescue operation was launched by Portland Coastguard after he failed to surface as expected in Lulworth Cove.
The alarm was raised at 1.30pm on Monday by Mr Brown’s boat handler who was collecting the scallops in a bag marked by surface buoys but found that Mr Brown was missing when she came to the last marker buoy.
Lulworth range safety boat Smit Frome responded to the alarm call first and found Mr Brown swimming with the tide near Ringstead Bay – three miles away from Lulworth Cove. He had been drifting in the water for three hours.
Mr Brown today praised their rescue efforts and said: “It was an unforeseen error that I drifted out and I have nothing but admiration for the efforts of the range boat and the coastguard.
“I am really grateful for their help and assistance and pleased to say there was a happy outcome in this situation.
“Fortunately I am quite an experienced diver and knew what to do because if not it could have been a lot worse.”
Mr Brown was found uninjured and said that his safe rescue was mainly due to his knowledge of the sea and his actions to swim with the tide for three hours to take him to the shoreline.
He said that he has learnt from this that ‘misunderstanding the circumstances at sea can cascade into a big problem’ and will now always carry day and night flares and other aids.
As well as the range safety boat, three Coastguard Rescue Teams from Wyke Regis, Lulworth and St Albans were tasked to search the shoreline, Portland Coastguard Rescue helicopter was scrambled and the Weymouth inshore and all weather RNLI lifeboats were requested to launch.
The warship Middleton offered the assistance of its two seaboats.
Mechanic crew member of the Smit Frome Phil Hansford said: “We were already in the area so when we got the call we started looking straight away.
“There was a heavy tide at the time and knowing that he couldn’t swim against it the diver went with the tide and we found him about three miles away near Ringstead Bay.”
Mark Rodaway, Portland Coast-guard rescue co-ordination centre manager said: “I am very pleased to report that the range safety craft Smit Frome found the missing diver.
“He was difficult to locate because he was not carrying a surface detection aid.
“However he is safe and well and the fact that he was wearing a drysuit increased his survivability.”
He added: “We would always recommend that clear plans are made for dive trips and that dive boats know exactly how they will proceed should they lose a diver.
“This should be the case for all diving trips, whether diving for scallops or diving recreationally.”
Mr Brown’s company Shellseekers also has a permanent scallop stall at London’s Borough Market.
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