Scuba diving fatality in Scapa Flow

A diver who was pulled from Scapa Flow on Friday some 90 minutes after being reported missing by his dive vessel was tragically pronounced dead a short while later.

The alarm was raised at 4pm on Friday 6 October after a boat located northeast of Cava Lighthouse in Scapa Flow reported that one of its divers was 15 minutes overdue.

A mayday call was made and teams from Stromness and Kirkwall Coastguard, a search and rescue helicopter from Sumburgh and the Longhope RNLI lifeboat all commenced a search of the area. At 5.30pm, the lifeboat recovered the diver from the water and transferred him to the Scottish Ambulance Service, but he died soon afterwards. Police confirmed the next of kin had been informed.