Divernet News, dateline 14 December 2005
Rescue diver's body found
The body of a diver, lost while searching for the missing crew of a sunken fishing vessel off Ireland, has been found.
Billy O'Connor was one of two volunteer divers who entered the sea off County Wexford in rough conditions on 1 December, in search of crew lost two days earlier when the fishing boat Rising Sun sank.
Of the fishing boat's crew of three, two went missing. The body of crewman Jimmy Meyler was recovered shortly after the sinking, but that of skipper Pat Colfer has not been found. The third crewman survived and has been recovering in hospital.
O'Connor went missing while ascending with his buddy from a 50m dive to examine the wreck. A former chairman of Hook Sub-Aqua Club, O'Connor was a highly able diver of some 20 years' experience, and a veteran of many search and rescue operations.
Air and sea searches, interrupted sporadically by bad weather, continued for both O'Connor and Colfer, navy divers finally recovering O'Connor from the vicinity of the wreck on 12 December, following location of his body by ROV video.
Searches continue in the hope of locating Pat Colfer. They include seabed operations by ROV and navy divers, surface searches by a naval vessel and lifeboats, and shoreline combing by Coastguard volunteers.
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Snakes alive!
Spectacular footage of sea snakes hunting in the coral reefs of the Banda Sea, Indonesia, will be among the underwater action in the second helping of the BBC documentary Planet Earth.
6 October 2006
Hoax diver escapes prosecution
The Channel Islands diver who set off a three-day £250,000 air and sea search after faking a diving accident in September has avoided facing a criminal prosecution, according to a report in the Guernsey Press & Star.
5 October 2006
Octopush worlds in UK
Britain has hosted a successful Underwater Hockey World Championships in Sheffield.
5 October 2006
Walk, paddle or hop for the MCS
The Marine Conservation Society has launched an imaginative fundraising programme - by offering people a near-infinite choice of sponsored journeys to undertake.
3 October 2006
MCS fish guide
The Marine Conservation Society has updated its online guide to buying fish in an eco-friendly way.
3 October 2006
1000th DCI patient for DDRC
Plymouth's Diving Diseases Research Centre treated its 1000th diver for decompression sickness in late September.
29 September 2006
Extended protection for Cornish wreck
The wreck of the St Anthony, near Helston in South Cornwall, has been redesignated so that a bigger protected area will be out of bounds to divers.
29 September 2006
Euro shark group launched
The Shark Alliance is a new conglomerate of conservation organisations, intent on pushing for more effective shark protection measures in Europe.
28 September 2006
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