DATELINE: 16 April 2003

DIVE CHARTER BOAT MCGREGOR SINKS NEAR EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE

Skipper Stuart Farman was lucky to escape with his life after a fire in the engine room of dive charter boat McGregor forced the crew to abandon ship.
The accident happened at 1.30pm on Thursday 10 April when the skipper went to investigate a problem that appeared to have been caused by the bilge pump. However, when he opened the engine room door, he was met with a fireball that caused him serious burns and blistering.
The fire spread quickly throughout the vessel and the skipper and crew were forced to abandon ship hastily by jumping into an inflatable that they were fortunate enough to be towing behind the boat at the time. The onboard zodiac and liferaft were consumed by the fire before they could be launched. There were no divers on board at the time.
Farman contacted Brixham Coastguard who launched a rescue operation.
"I spent the weekend in hospital being treated for burns, but I was lucky to escape alive. I remember an orange fireball coming towards me when I opened the engine room door, and I went flying. I lost my eyelashes, eyebrows, hair - my face and hands are blistered. As I jumped off the boat into the inflatable, the tubes were already starting to melt in the heat, it was that intense."
Plymouth-based McGregor was an established dive charter since 1987. The ship took 6 hours to sink and now lies somewhere in the Hans Deep area.
62-year-old Farman told Divernet that he will not return to the dive charter business. "The loss is heartbreaking. We had improved the boat over the years and got it to a really good standard. Now it's all gone. I couldn't face starting over again."