A SICK scuba diver who had to wait 90 minutes to be rescued the day after a coastguard helicopter service was axed said it was ‘inevitable’ someone will die due to its loss.

Marcus Blatchford, who was suffering from the bends, was winched off a dive boat in the sea off Portland by a rescue aircraft that had to be sent from South Wales 75 miles away.

The emergency happened less than 24 hours after the controversial withdrawal of the Portland-based coastguard helicopter, which is said would have taken between 10 to 20 minutes to reach the casualty.

Mr Blatchford, 34, was suffering from progressive decompression sickness and collapsed when he reached the recompression chamber centre in Poole. He was told that as a result of the delay he had to undergo a much more intensive level of treatment, spending more than nine hours in a recompression chamber, double the length of time he would have done had he arrived sooner.

He was later told had his evacuation been delayed by a further 10 minutes he could have suffered lasting effects such as deafness and imbalance of the ear.

Now back at work as a rigger for a film company, Mr Blatchford has added his voice to growing calls for the Government to reverse its decision and bring back the Portland search and rescue (SAR) helicopter.

Mr Blatchford, from Swindon, said: “Bring the helicopter back as soon as possible. The water is a dangerous place and we need to have services like it. It seems absolutely mad. I do think it is inevitable that someone will die because of the Portland helicopter not being there. It is a really chilling thought.”

The service was one of two out of 12 SAR aircraft in the UK to be scrapped by the Department for Transport in a cost-cutting move.

Without it the Dorset coast, a hugely popular area for diving, fishing and sailing, will be covered by a coastguard helicopter 60 miles away at Lee-on-Solent, near Southampton.

Back up helicopters based in Cornwall and South Wales will also provide cover.

The Portland aircraft’s last day of service was last Friday.

Less than 24 hours later Mr Blatchford surfaced from a 190ft dive to the wreck HMS Delight 20 miles off Portland Bill.

Mr Blatchford, who has 10 years’ diving experience, said: “I did all my decompression stops and everything was fine. When I got back on the dive boat I had a dry cough and after about 10 minutes I wasn’t feeling too great and really wanted to heave.

“I was given some oxygen and the skipper called it in. He called the coastguard on channel 16.

“I was fully conscious but very unwell and had chest pains and breathing very shallow breaths.”

The Lee-on-Solent and Cornish helicopters were both on training exercises at the time. The service based at St Athan, near Cardiff, was also training but landed to re-fuel before heading for Portland.

Mr Blatchford said: “The skipper drove 16 miles to Portland to bridge the gap and people on board were wondering what was taking the helicopter so long. I was in my own little bubble and was concentrating on breathing.

“When I got to the chamber clinic I felt my legs go and I half-collapsed. The bend was progressing quite rapidly. I was put on a stretcher and was then in the chamber for nine-and-a-half hours.

“It was after I recovered I was told that I was very touch and go and if I had arrived just 10 minutes later it could have turned out very different.”

Diver Rick Ayrton, 59, who was on the dive boat, said: “There was quite a lot of disgruntlement that the helicopter was taking so long to get to us. We thought it was going to be sooner than it was.

“Marcus was quite bad but had his symptoms been more serious it could have been a life or death situation.”

Before the Portland helicopter was axed more than 100,000 people had signed a petition calling for it to stay.

A spokesman for the MCA said that the faster and better helicopter at Lee-on-Solent will now serve the Dorset coast.

He said: “There is no evidence of increased risk to life following the closure of the Portland base.

“Our new helicopters which are all at strategically identified locations around the UK fly faster and longer in all weathers serving the whole country. This means that a helicopter can be deployed to any incident and be there within 60 minutes of taking off from its base.”