Conditions hamper search for diver

A helicopter joined the search

Poor sea conditions have been hampering the search for the body of a diver presumed dead after an accident at the weekend.

Brian Gordon, from Edinburgh, had been diving with three other members of Strathclyde University Diving Club, off the south-west coast of Scotland on Saturday afternoon when he became trapped.

Police divers spent the weekend searching for Mr Gordon, but the search was scaled down on Sunday night.

A shoreline search was resumed on Monday but poor sea conditions had postponed the resumption of the underwater search until Tuesday.

The 30-year-old experienced diver was last seen taking his tank off under the water as he attempted to get inside the wreck Wallachia.

A colleague rose to the surface to raise the alarm and then returned to the wreck to take an air tank down, but the diver had disappeared.

The wreck, a popular destination with divers, lies less than a mile off Toward Point, four miles south of Dunoon.

Divers, a Royal Navy rescue helicopter from Prestwick, the Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Cattestock, a cabin cruiser and inshore lifeboats were involved in the air and sea search over the weekend.