By ANTARA News/Reuters,
Sydney : Two scuba divers, a British man and an American woman, were rescued on Saturday after drifting for 20 hours off Australia`s Great Barrier Reef after they became separated from their dive party.
A rescue helicopter spotted the divers drifting about 7.8 nautical miles (12.5 km) north-west of Bait Reef, winched them aboard and flew them to a nearby resort island, police said.
“I`m quite surprised, they are in such great condition,” a helicopter rescue official told local radio.
“It was quite amazing, with over 20 hours in the ocean to not have more exposure, but I guess the wetsuits just kept them warm enough during the night. Possibly they had some fresh water on them and they didn`t get too sunburnt during the afternoon.”
The two, part of a party of six divers on a charter boat, became separated on Friday afternoon and drifted some eight nautical miles during the night.
Police said the pair were diving in a small inlet called Gary`s Lagoon when they failed to resurface as scheduled.
The dive boat crew started a search, alerting police when they failed to find any trace of the missing divers.
Three aircraft, including a specialised search and rescue plane with forward looking infra-red equipment, searched overnight for the pair. The search was expanded on Saturday with seven helicopters and three aircraft looking for the pair.