News, Bedfordshire
A man has described his relief after scuba divers came to the rescue when he lost his wedding ring in a river.
Ant Crocker, 34, was paddleboarding at Cardington Lock on the River Great Ouse, near Bedford, when the ring slipped off his finger.
His wife Danielle “wasn’t happy” when he told her, so he contacted Bedford Scuba Divers to ask for their help.
“If they weren’t looking for a ring, they would have been looking for a body,” he joked.
Mr Crocker, a London firefighter from nearby Shortstown, lost the ring on Friday.
He tried to find it himself using swimming goggles, but struggled to hold his breath for long enough to reach the bottom of the river.
Three divers came to the scene the following day and managed to locate the lost ring within five minutes, about 3m (10ft) down.
“I was over the moon – I was so relieved,” said Mr Crocker.
Bedford Scuba Divers are often tasked with finding lost objects on river beds and this was their third wedding ring rescue.
Diver Mags Martin said: “Because we had torches, it glinted in the torchlight.”
He said Mr Crocker was “dumbfounded”, adding: “He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe it was so quick, either.”
