'We can bring him home now'

The father of the British diver who died in a wreck three weeks ago says he is relieved that his son, whose body is expected to be recovered today, can finally be given a proper burial.

"Everyone is feeling quite stressed, but I feel a bit better - knowing that we will be able to give him a proper burial... It is difficult, but at least we can bring him home now," 82-year-old Tom Swain said, adding that the whole family was trying to come to terms with the loss of his son, Paul.

The search for 49-year-old Paul Swain had been called off two days after he disappeared, after rescuers scouring the wreck concluded that the chamber he was last seen in was too dangerous to enter because of loose debris.

But, with the help of the dive buddy he was last with, CPD officials on Saturday located the body in a deep part of the wreck, after working tirelessly for hours in dangerous conditions.

His body was found in the cafeteria of the scuttled former Gozo Channel, the Xlendi, which has become a popular artificial reef off Gozo. The CPD tried to recover the body yesterday but they had to postpone the operation for today because of problems manoeuvring the corpse out of a hatch.

Mr Swain's family had praised the rescue effort but expressed their regret when the operation had been called off.

Speaking to the UK newspaper The Northern Echo, the father yesterday said he could not understand how the tragedy had happened because his son was an experienced diver.

"Paul was very bright. He was a cheerful lad, who would help anyone," he told the UK paper.

Mr Swain, an engineer and part-time diving instructor from Billingham, was last seen on November 3 by his diving partner entering the cramped cafeteria of the old Gozo Channel ferry, which is lodged belly up in a sand bank in the area known as Ix-Xatt l-Aħmar.

The Northern Echo reported that members of Mr Swain's family have called for more warning signs to be placed around the chamber in the wreck where he went missing, as it is believed to be dangerous and off limits.

The wreck has been a cause for concern since it was first scuttled in 1999 since it sank on a steep sand bank and overturned, embedding itself in the silt that continued to accumulate.

Divers are easily disoriented because of the darkness and floating silt, which is disturbed by their fins and gear. However, some time ago, the Red Cross placed reflective signs warning divers not to enter and had cleaned them of the algae just a week before Mr Swain entered the ship.