G’day Mate, Do You Want A Lift?

A 68-year-old scuba diver is lucky to be alive after drifting off the Queensland (Australia) coast for more than 17 hours. He had been diving alone on the popular wreck of the Yongala during the 6th November and the emergency services were called only after his moored boat was found at 6.45pm with nobody aboard.

The missing diver was spotted at 11.00am the following morning 30 miles (50km) away. He had jumped into the water without his Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) because he'd taken out of his dive box to clean it several days earlier. The currents are known to be strong there and he was quickly taken away from his boat.

Rescuers were ecstatic that they found the man alive. When they reached him, the helicopter rescuer said, "G'day mate, do you want a lift?"

The diver had no surface marker device with him but, thanks to calm conditions, was spotted by his yellow tank.

A diver can learn an important lesson from this: Never leave a boat unattended while you dive, never dive alone at a remote dive site, and always take an effective surface-marker or working electronic safety device with you.