A MISSING diver who had been given up for dead was recovering last night after spending more than 2½ days in the sea.
Matthew Harvey, 35, from Guernsey, was found by a passing yacht at 7pm on Monday 200 metres from where he had entered the water on Saturday morning. Mr Harvey, who was wearing a wetsuit and a flotation jacket, was unconscious when he was pulled from the water. His rescue has mystified those involved in a big air-sea rescue operation that began after he was reported missing.
Mr Harvey went diving alone at Fermain Bay off the east of the island despite heavy seas and force 7 winds. His family had all but given up hope of seeing him again when they received a call from police to say that an unidentified diver had been rescued.
Dan Harvey, his father, said that Matthew, who has left hospital and is recovering at home with his wife Katie, 35, had survived for 50 hours at sea by “swimming and swimming” whenever he was conscious. “All he had on was a wetsuit and fins and we think he was out of it for hours at a time. All he’s said to me so far is that he just swam and swam to stay alive. The rest of the time he was unconscious. He told me time moved in a very peculiar way and he was beyond tired.”
Matthew Harvey was reported missing at 4pm on Saturday by his wife. A search, which included three lifeboats and Guernsey’s marine ambulance, found no sign of him by nightfall. The search resumed the next day with larger boats, including the Herm ferry, and the Brecqhou helicopter owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay. The operation was called off on Monday afternoon. Rescuers said that the “relatively warm” water could have contributed to the survial of Mr Harvey, a museum social history officer.
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He may have been hit by a boat when he resurfaced or his head may have struck a hard object, such as a rock, and he was carried away by the tide.