Two divers at risk of the bends were taken to hospital yesterday after separate incidents off the Westcountry coast.
Brixham Coastguards were alerted to the first casualty at 11.40am after the diver suddenly surfaced from a depth of 26 metres (85ft) at Hands Deep, off Plymouth.
The dive boat was met on the water by the Plymouth lifeboat which brought him, and his dive buddy, ashore.
They were met by a waiting ambulance which took to the man to the Diving Diseases Research Centre, at Derriford, for treatment for decompression sickness – also known as the bends.
An hour later, Brixham Coastguards were dealing with a similar incident involving a diver who had surfaced too quickly off Fowey, on the south Cornwall coast.
A search and rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose, near Helston, airlifted the man from the vessel. He was also flown to the hyperbaric chamber in Plymouth for treatment.
The divers' condition was not known last night.
Coastguards warned divers to take extra care to make regular stops before they surface.
