Lough Swilly lifeboat crews have teamed up with members of Inishowen Sub Aqua Club in an effort to improve diver safety in the waters around Donegal. The move comes in the wake of a diving fatality and the rescue of four divers along county’s coastline.A SAC spokesman said the training session was an outstanding success and revealed further sessions would be staged in “more adverse conditions.”The spokesman said: “Of late, scuba diving has become the fastest growing sport on the island of Ireland. With its clear waters, abundant fish life and an unsurpassed proliferation of wrecks off the county’s rugged coastline, it’s hardly surprising Donegal is the premier county for divers to visit.“Despite the fact tthe diving season has only kicked off, there has already been one diver fatality and a major search operation, involving four missing submariners. “To the uninitiated this makes the sport look particularly dangerous, but it should be appreciated that on any weekend this fair county is host to several hundred divers. Many of these individuals are visiting the area and as such are unfamiliar with our waters. Despite this the number of diver related callouts experienced by lifeboat crews are quite small.”The spokesman stressed that in a diver related emergency, time was of the essence.He added: “Most divers are trained to cope with any situation that may arise, but there are times when outside assistance is necessary.  To someone totally unfamiliar with a diver’s kit the prospect of removing same can be quite daunting, worse still, the odds of getting that diver aboard a lifeboat with all his gear is nigh on impossible. A diver’s kit can often equal their own weight, sometimes, depending on the nature of the dive the gear may well outweigh the diver. “So it was that over a friendly cup of coffee it was decided that divers and lifeboat crews would get together and pool their collective intelligence. On this first training session in a flat calm Lough Swilly, not alone did the lifeboat personnel familiarise themselves with diving equipment, they also perfected the task of bringing divers aboard the high sided Tyne class craft. The spokesman concluded: “Initially assisting a traumatised diver aboard, they then worked up to plucking a simulated comatose diver from the sea. The training session went so well that it was agreed the sessions would continue in more adverse conditions, incorporating the other vessels in the lifeboat fleet.”