12-YEAR-OLD AIRLIFTED AFTER RAPID DIVE ASCENT

A 12-year-old boy has been taken to the Hyperbaric Chamber at Hull by helicopter after the diveboat he was diving from with his family off Seahouses contacted the Coastguard to report that he had made a rapid ascent from 12 metres and was suffering from decompression sickness.

Crew on board the dive boat, who had been organising a dive off the Farne Islands, contacted Humber Coastguard at 11.37am to report that the boy had been diving at a depth of 22 metres, and had made a rapid ascent from 12 metres and was showing symptoms of decompression sickness. Humber Coastguard took advice from the Institute of Naval Medicine and then placed them in a link call with the boat, also requesting the launch of the Rescue Helicopter from RAF Boulmer, and sending the Seahouses Coastguard Rescue Team to the Hyperbaric Chamber in Hull, where the Doctor had advised he be taken. At 12.08 pm the Rescue Helicopter arrived on scene and airlifted the boy and his father to the Hyperbaric Chamber at the BUPA Hospital in Hull.

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