Charity walker's air pipe snags

Graham Boanas took about an hour to complete the walk

A diver went to the aid of an underwater river walker when his air pipe became snagged as he attempted his toughest charity challenge to date.

Graham Boanas, 43, who is 6ft 9in tall, was walking below the surface of the River Humber when his lifeline got caught on a scaffolding pole on Sunday.

He was trapped for up to 10 minutes 25ft below the surface, about half-way through his mile-long walk.

Mr Boanas, who is from Hull, hopes to raise £100,000 for the charity DebRA.

The charity helps those with the genetic skin blistering condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB).

The father-of-two, who runs an electrical company, crossed the Mersey on foot last week.

Mr Boanas completed a walk across the Humber last summer

In August he crossed the Humber at low tide. But for this crossing he was fully submerged for about 90% of the trip.

Afterwards, he said: "It was tricky.

"I had thought this would be a more mental challenge, because it is pitch black down there, but it ended up being physical too when my airline got snagged and it became difficult to draw on my air supply."

Mr Boanas was in constant contact with his support team and a diver was sent down to help him get free.

His wife Janine, 40, said: "He makes it look so easy that I get blase about it, so this was a bit of a shock. I felt so sick."

It took Mr Boanas about an hour to cross the river, guided by his support team, below the Humber Bridge.