Divers with the bends airlifted

Two divers have been treated for the bends after getting into difficulties off the south Devon coast.

Emergency services were called out twice in the space of 15 minutes to help a woman and man, who were on separate dive boats.

They were picked up by the coastguard helicopter and taken to Poole for treatment in a hyperbaric recompression chamber.

Weather conditions were too severe for them to be flown to a closer facility.

The 47-year-old male diver experienced medical problems after surfacing rapidly from a depth of 60m (197ft)

He had been diving near Dartmouth.

Fifteen minutes later Coastguards received reports of a 48-year-old woman from Stanford in Oxfordshire, who was also in trouble.

She had been diving near Salcombe and was rescued by lifeboat before being transferred to the helicopter along with the other diver.