A 45-year-old Finnish diver was critically injured yesterday when he was hit by the propeller of the boat that carried him and some friends out to sea.

The diver suffered severe chest injuries, sources said, when strong currents pushed him against the propeller’s blades.

The divers were taken from a Paradise Bay Hotel boat to an area known as Il-Ponta tal-Irqiqa, in the vicinity of Comino.

The police said the incident happened at about 12.10pm when the man jumped into the water and was dragged back towards the vessel by the currents. It was quite windy in the area yesterday.

A diving colleague, who was a doctor, administered first aid and the injured diver was lifted on to the same boat and taken to Paradise Bay, Ċirkewwa, where an ambulance rushed him to Mater Dei Hospital.

A magisterial inquiry is under way.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.