Diver, 58, dies after Scapa Flow rescue bid

Scapa Flow, off Orkney, is one of Europe's premier wreck diving sites

A diver has died after getting into difficulties in Scapa Flow off Orkney.

Police Scotland said the alarm was raised at about 10:35 on Friday after two men were brought by boat to Houton Pier.

Officers said a 58-year-old, who has not been named, was pronounced dead at the scene. The second diver was taken to hospital for treatment.

A force spokesman said: "The death is being treated as unexplained and inquiries are ongoing."

• Diver named after body found in Orkney's Scapa Flow

• Scapa Flow scuttling: The day the German navy sank its own ships

On Wednesday a diver whose body was found in Scapa Flow in Orkney last week was named by police.

Paul Smith, 70, from the Greater Manchester area, had been reported missing near the wreck of the German battleship SMS Markgraf on 28 September.

More than 50 German ships were sunk in the waters off Orkney to prevent them becoming spoils of war on 21 June 1919.

During the 1920s and 1930s, many of the ships were lifted from the sea bed by commercial contractors and broken up.

Since then it has become one of Europe's premier wreck diving sites and the seven ships that remain are now classed as scheduled monuments.