Orkney diver death probably caused by boat propeller

The bulletin said: “The crew of the second dive boat saw the DSMB disappear under Karin. Subsequently one of the two divers failed to resurface.

“The coastguard was notified and an extensive two-day air and sea search of the area was conducted, but without success.

“The missing diver’s body was found three weeks later following a seabed search conducted by a local survey vessel using side-scan sonar. A specialist team recovered the diver’s body from the seabed.”

The MAIB bulletin makes a number of safety recommendations, external in light of the incident, including the need for boat crews to maintain a lookout when operating in areas with people in the water and the need for them to maintain “detailed and frequent communication” with other boats in the same area.

The MAIB also recommends that the British Diving Safety Group, which brings together diving organisations across the UK, shares the bulletin within its membership, particularly to raise awareness of the hazards of attaching DSMB lines to their body or clothing while underwater.

More than 50 German ships were sunk in the waters off Orkney to prevent them becoming spoils of war on 21 June 1919.

During the 1920s and 1930s, many of the ships were lifted from the sea bed by commercial contractors and broken up.

Since then it has become one of Europe’s premier wreck diving sites and the seven ships that remain are now classed as scheduled monuments.