Scuba pair found after night stranded off Barrier Reef
Saturday, 24 May 2008 15:26
Two scuba divers found after night missing off Great Barrier Reef
Two scuba divers have been discovered alive after spending the night stranded off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
British diver Richard Neely, 38, and American Allison Dalton, 40, had gone missing on Friday after resurfacing some 200 metres from their chartered diving boat following an excursion to a reef.
But after an 18-hour search involving a dozen aircraft, the pair were seen around nine miles from their original diving point near the Whitsunday Islands, close to the coast of Queensland.
They were winched to safety following their discovery and have been flown to hospital in Townsville, according to the Brisbane Times newspaper.
Shane Chelepy, a Queensland police official, said they owed their survival to their diving ability and having remained calm despite their predicament.
"They strapped themselves together using their weight belts, they conserved energy, stayed as a pair and awaited rescue," he was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.
It is thought that Mr Neely and Ms Dalton chose to remain where they were until being rescued, rather than swimming against the strong current.