A DIVER who went missing for 10 hours before being found alive was
dragged away from his companions by a conger eel, police revealed
yesterday.
Mr Cameron Bell, 32, was found semi-conscious and exhausted on the
shore of Loch Long on Thursday morning as emergency services were
beginning to fear he had drowned. He was taken by ambulance under police
escort to a decompression chamber at the Royal Navy submarine base at
nearby Faslane.
The diving instructor and three companions had been doing a late-night
dive off Ardgarten Point, near Arrochar, Dunbartonshire, when he went
missing. The others saw his torch go out and come back on again, but
found it was shining on the bed of the loch and there was no sign of Mr
Bell.
Yesterday, as the diver recovered at home, police told how a conger
eel, entangled in a length of fishing line, had been disturbed by the
light of his torch. The giant eel had darted out at the diver, who was
caught in the line and dragged backwards at high speed, deeper under the
water.
Chief Inspector Mike Deans, based at Helensburgh police station, said
a statement had been taken from Mr Bell shortly after he came around in
the decompression chamber.
He said: ''Mr Bell said it was a 6ft conger eel, which had a massive
fishing line attached to it. It came out from behind some rocks and the
line caught him around the head and he was dragged away at very high
speed. He managed to cut himself free and broke to the surface. He was
disorientated and cannot remember anything after that.''
As reported in The Herald yesterday, Mr Bell still had his knife in
his hand when he was discovered on a lochside road by a passing cyclist
on Thursday morning. A police underwater team, inshore lifeboat,
Ministry of Defence police launches, a Royal Navy rescue helicopter, and
coastguard auxiliaries had all spent hours searching for the diver.
After being treated by doctors at Faslane, Mr Bell was transferred to
the Vale of Leven Hospital at Alexandria for overnight observation.
Yesterday morning, he returned to Faslane for further examination by
doctors there before being discharged. A spokesman at the base said it
was possible that Mr Bell would return there in a month for a check-up.
After leaving Faslane, Mr Bell returned to his home in Moray Place,
Strathbungo, Glasgow, but declined to talk to reporters about his
ordeal.
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