A DIVER from East Lancashire is fighting for his life in hospital after suffering the bends in an accident off the Scottish coast.

Holidaymaker Ray Sunter, 53, of Wellhead, Winewalls, Colne, is critically ill in hospital at Aberdeen. Members of his family have travelled from Pendle to be at his bedside.

Tragic Mr Sunter lost his wife, Colleen, to cancer about three years ago and also suffered a heart attack.

A neighbour said: "He is a grand chap but has gone through quite a packet in the past few years.''

Mr Sunter works at Main Gas, Padiham, and has a son, Tony, and daughter, Tracey.

Members of the family were told that Mr Sunter's condition had worsened yesterday and that he had been put into deeper compression because he was not responding to drugs.

Mr Sunter was rescued on Saturday afternoon and airlifted at low level to hospital in Aberdeen.

A member of the British Sub Aqua Association he had been diving one mile off Rosehearty at depths of around 120ft but is believed to have surfaced too quickly and suffered decompression sickness.

His symptoms included a bad rash on his neck and pains all over his body.

The RAF helicopter flew at around 500ft to avoid putting further unnecessary pressure on Mr Sunter's body.

Coastguards were quick to praise the fast reaction of the Peterhead dive master on the boat saying his actions gave Mr Sunter the best possible chance of survival.

Aberdeen coastguard officer Barry Skidmore said divemaster Roger Mathison had done all the right things.

He said: "He alerted the authorities quickly, appraised the situation very quickly and informed the coastguard.

"Decompression sickness is life threatening and it doesn't take long for a diver to get into difficulties.''

Aberdeen Coastguard was alerted on Saturday afternoon and called out an RAF Lossiemouth rescue helicopter, which winched the three men off their dive boat.

Mr Sunter was then taken to the specialist unit where he was treated by a team of doctors and nurses.

Mr Sunter is an experienced diver and is believed to have taken the same diving trip several times before.

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