A BOURNEMOUTH man’s life was dramatically saved by his close friend after a diving expedition to a wreck in Christchurch Bay.

Jeff Evans, 58, from Tuckton, stopped breathing and was clinically dead for several minutes following the dive to explore the wreck of the SS Braedale. He and close friend Steve Calfe, along with fellow members of Christchurch-based Arnewood Divers had ventured down to the wreck, which sank in the waters off Christchurch in 1932.

But as the two returned to the surface, Jeff began to suffer from the bends and blacked out.

Steve, 55, who is a Hampshire coastguard, said: “He started drifting away from the support vessel and was face down in the water.

“I flipped him over and towed him back to the boat but he suddenly went as stiff as a board.

“I managed to get him out of the water with the help of the skipper, Richard Styles, and we laid him on the deck.”

However, Steve noticed Jeff had stopped breathing and performed CPR in a successful attempt to keep his friend alive.

The casualty was airlifted to Poole Hospital and spent seven hours in a nearby re-compression chamber.

A camera crew aboard the helicopter filmed the emergency for the BBC series Real Rescues, presented by Nick Knowles.

Jeff said: “I was involved in a head-on car crash in 1993 and suffered serious head injuries.

“During the dive a nitrogen bubble formed in my cerebellum.

“Instead of dissipating in the normal way it sat on the scar tissue at the base of my brain and gradually got bigger, damaging my central nervous system.

“I was technically dead for two or three minutes. If Steve hadn’t done what he did, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Jeff, who is no longer able to dive, added: “I still get a bit of discomfort in my legs but I had a very lucky escape.”

Steve has now become only the second person in 30 years to receive a top life-saving award from the National Sub-Aqua Association.

He was also praised by Colin Tabor, deputy station officer at the coastguard centre in Bath Road, Lymington, where he is based.

“He cites the training he has received from HM Coastguard and Arnewood Divers, who hold rescue and fitness drills each year,” said Mr Tabor.