Top diver jets to Rome
Published 22 Feb 2012 09:30
Scotland's top Royal Navy diver, based at HM Naval Base Clyde, flew to Rome today (Wednesday) to help with the Costa Concordia tragedy.
Lieutenant Commander Kevin Stockton will discuss about the best way to recover the remaining bodies trapped in the luxury liner.
He meet with experts from Italy, Germany, Sweden and Denmark to discuss the options open to divers in what is now the sixth week since the liner keeled over off the coast of Isola del Giglio on January 13.
His swift departure for the Italian capital follows contact made by the Italian authorities to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.
Senior officers decided immediately the Lt Cdr Stockton was the right man for the job.
The Royal Navy is keen to stress that the talks are only at the preliminary stage and that Lt Cdr Stockton will return to Britain on Friday whatever the outcome.
Lt Cdr Stockton is Commanding Officer of the Northern Diving Group, which is also the Royal Navy's crack bomb disposal unit.
In December, they won the Royal Navy's 2011 Diving Unit Effectiveness Trophy after responding to 120 Explosive Ordnance Device call outs in the year, including crucial forensic work on the Celtic postal bombs investigation.
In that case, they dismantled the packages by hand, photographing and ex-raying them before handing them over scientists and detectives.
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