A volunteer Plymouth lifeboat crew who raced to save an unresponsive diver off the Breakwater will appear on BBC Two’s Saving Lives at Sea on Thursday, shining a national spotlight on their life saving teamwork.
The episode follows volunteers from the Plymouth Lifeboat Station as they respond to a Mayday call in May 2024, launching both lifeboats to reach a diver who had surfaced and was not breathing about a mile south of the Breakwater.
The inshore lifeboat crew began casualty care on scene, with the all-weather lifeboat arriving moments later to support the evacuation. Help was coordinated with partner agencies in a fast-moving situation at sea, including a doctor from a Dutch warship and a HM Coastguard rescue helicopter paramedic.
The casualty was taken swiftly back to the lifeboat station at Millbay Marina on the all-weather lifeboat and transferred to waiting medics from the Devon Air Ambulance Critical and South Western Ambulance Service. The diver miraculously went on to make a full recovery.
Coxswain Neil Humphrey, who features in the programme, said:
"It was a challenging service due to the reported condition of the casualty, the close proximity to the station and the sheer number of vessels in the area at the time, making for a very dynamic situation.
"However, with our training, teamwork, and cooperation with partnering agencies, we were able to successfully evacuate the casualty and hand them over to South Western Ambulance Service for onward care, where the casualty made a full recovery."
Now in its tenth season, Saving Lives at Sea shares the real stories of RNLI crews and lifeguards across the UK and Ireland, from kayakers in trouble to people cut off by the tide.
Plymouth RNLI will appear on BBC Two this coming Thursday 25 September where they demonstrate their heroic teamwork can save lives at sea.
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