Search for missing diver called off

Rescuers looking for a missing scuba diver off the south coast of England have called off their search.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the man was 16 nautical miles south east of Portland Bill in Dorset when he failed to surface.

Portland Coastguard was contacted by the dive boat at just before 11am to say that one of their divers had not surfaced as expected.

Weymouth Lifeboats and and two other RNLI lifeboats that were in the area were sent to the scene with the coastguard rescue helicopter from Portland.

They were joined by the UK Border Agency's vessel Valiant and the Fisheries Protection plane.

Despite excellent weather conditions and a highly-concentrated search the missing diver was not found.

Dorset Police was liaising with the diver's family, MCA said.