A diver in the Orkney Islands off the northern tip of Scotland has had an amazing escape after being found alive and well some ten hours after he was reported missing.
Ivan Doychev failed to return to his dive boat in the Pentland Firth – between Orkney and the mainland – yesterday and the alarm was raised at 5.20pm, promoting the start of a massive search involving three lifeboats, two helicopters from Shetland and Inverness, four commercial vessels and Coastguard search teams from Hoy and St Margarets Hope. Some ten hours later, in the early hours of this morning, he was sighted and picked up by a Russian sail training vessel, the Yunyi Baltiets, two miles off Duncansby. The crew of the ship reported Doychev was conscious and in reasonable health. He was then transferred to the Thurso RNLI lifeboat and taken to Caithness General in Wick.
The Orkney Islands is a hotspot for wreck divers, as the natural harbour of Scapa Flow is the final resting place of several ships from the German World War One Fleet, but there are many other shipwrecks in the surrounding area.
