Aerial view looking down onto the top of a helicopter flying over the sea. On the right, a female winch paramedic is wearing orange overalls and a yellow helmet.

Episode eight

Series Three, Episode Eight

The final episode of the series

Belfast Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) receives a call as a diver is unwell after surfacing. Surveyors from Colchester Marine Office carry out inspections on party boats that cruise the Thames, meanwhile coastguard rescue officers at Blackpool Air Show respond to numerous incidents, including a man who has collapsed. 

The back of a coastguard rescue officer in blue overalls. On the overalls, text reads 'HM Coastguard search and rescue'

Diving into danger

A diver is in danger off the Isle of Man after becoming dizzy and sick. He is showing symptoms of decompression sickness – a potentially fatal condition in which bubbles form in the blood vessels.

Help is at hand when the HM Coastguard helicopter is sent from Caernarfon to pick him up from land, with assistance from Coastguard Rescue Officers, and fly him 70 miles for treatment in a decompression chamber in Birkenhead.

Winch paramedic Paul Jones said: “The beauty of the helicopter is that we can turn up at most areas and we can either winch or land and get medical care to the patient as quickly as possible. Ultimately you have got the patient to the right place.” 

Top safety tips

  • If you’re diving, take a buddy, have good communications, and do your checks every time: health, equipment, training, weather, tides and sea conditions.
  • Have a way to call for help: mobile phone in a waterproof pouch, Personal Locator Beacon, or VHF/DSC radio.
  • Tell someone where you’re going and what time you'll be back.
  • Remember ‘Float to Live’: relax and float on your back with your ears submerged.
  • In trouble on the water? Send a mayday on VHF Channel 16 or call 999 and ask for Coastguard. 
     

‘Absolutely amazing – I am blown away’

A 14-year-old girl with her family is struggling on Yr Wyddfa, also known as Mount Snowdon – she is breathless but doesn't have her inhaler. Coming to the rescue is an HM Coastguard helicopter which takes her to safety, and she soon recovers.

An HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter on rocky terrain

Mum Mahmuda Mazid said: “Absolutely amazing – I am blown away. I did not know such a service existed and how they work. I am really touched.

“The helicopter team – just wow. It’s just to see them coming in that huge expanse of space, the sheer drop where we were sitting, and for them to just totally take it in their stride. Really appreciate their total command of the situation, just totally allayed our fears.”

Want to make a difference?

Take a look at current vacancies at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency or find out more about becoming a volunteer coastguard rescue officer.

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