A Channel Islands diver has been rescued after two-and-a-half days lost at sea, in one of the most impressive diver survival stories of recent times.

Matthew Harvey, 35, entered the sea at Fermain Bay on Guernsey for a solo dive at about 9am on Saturday. The bay was sheltered, but he is thought to have been whisked away by currents, into rough seas.

For the next three days Harvey was pushed to and fro on the tides, until he was spotted and rescued by the crew of a yacht at 7pm on Monday, about 200m from the shore, not far from where he had started his dive.

Unconscious when he was brought aboard, Harvey was transferred into a fast inflatable and taken to St Peter Port. An ambulance took him to St Elizabeth Hospital, where he was joined by his wife and parents.

The diver's father, after talking with his son as he recovered from severe exhaustion and dehydration, told the press that Harvey "swam and swam" when he was conscious - but that "we think he was out of it for hours at a time".

Harvey had also suffered a non-threatening head injury, caused perhaps by collision with a rock, a vessel or other object in the sea.

Searches for Harvey involved the St Peter Port offshore lifeboat, two inshore lifeboats, a Channel Islands Air Search plane, the marine ambulance Flying Christine III, a private helicopter volunteered by The Daily Telegraph owners the Barclays, police divers and volunteer shore look-outs.

Unfortunately searches did not begin until late on Saturday, as it was not realised until 4pm that anything was wrong. Search operations were then hampered, and at times postponed, by Force 6 to 7 winds and high seas during Saturday night and into Sunday.

Searches were called off at dusk on Sunday, when hope for Harvey had all but disappeared. It was another 22 hours before he was found.

Rescuers have said that water temperature will have played an important part in the survival of Harvey, who is reported to have been wearing a wetsuit rather than a drysuit. Though rough, the sea was a comparatively warm 17 °C.

Harvey, who works with the Guernsey Museums Service, has been released from hospital to continue his recovery at home.

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