Dive boat drifted half a mile away after its engine failed

THREE divers, “stranded” when their boat lost power and drifted away while they were submerged, were rescued today (Monday) by Lyme Regis lifeboat.

Coastguards alerted crew at 10.05am when the dive boat Dinky suffered engine failure over the wreck of the Bay Guitano.

The 4.6metre vessel had drifted about half a mile to the east when the alarm was raised.

The divers were due to surface 20 minutes after the alarm call.

The lifeboat crew located their surface marker buoy after a 15 minute search.

All three divers re-surfaced and were taken aboard the lifeboat which then towed Dinky to Lyme Regis harbour.

Elliott Herbert, who was the helm of the Lyme Regislifeboat, said:”Obviously, our first concern was the safety of the divers, so we immediately searched for their marker buoys. We found the markers and gradually the three divers appeared. We took all three men aboard the lifeboat. They were pleased to see us and all in all it was a good result.”