Two divers survive after their boat drifted away off Mindarie, WA

Two divers survived becoming stranded in the ocean after losing their boat while diving about 5km off Mindarie, a coastal suburb north of Perth.

Ryan Chapman and his mate had anchored and were free diving and scuba diving when Chapman said the wind may have picked up and he had not tied his knot properly. "We went out, anchored up, and originally things were all good for 45 mins," he told Guardian Australia. In his GoPro footage, provided to Guardian Australia, Chapman can be heard saying: "Where the fuck is the boat?" and "Oi the boat … it’s come off anchor."

Chapman said they initially feared the boat had sunk and swam toward a vessel about a kilometre away before being picked up at a closer distance about one-and-a-half hours after resurfacing. Their rescuers were concerned after seeing the boat drifting; Chapman said he "wasn’t too worried" and believed they could have made shore but that the boat would have been long gone.

After being collected they located their boat about 2km away, returned to it and went for another dive, this time with one person staying on the boat. Chapman has released the footage to raise safety awareness, urging people to always have a "decky" on board and to double-check anchorage, and said he agreed to air it to own up to "stupidity" and warn others that complacency can have worse consequences.

Key Topics

World, Ryan Chapman, Mindarie, Western Australia, Gopro, Scuba Diving