A WOMAN diver from Bolton has died while exploring a deep sea wreck off a Scottish island.

Hilary Lyon, aged 39, who has a 14-year-old son, was exploring the wreck of a Second World War ship off Mull Head, Orkney, when she got into difficulties on Friday afternoon.

Miss Lyon, an accountant, was pulled unconscious from the water and on to the dive boat by two colleagues. Despite several attempts to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead.

She is believed to have travelled to Scotland with a group of divers last Saturday and they hired a local boat.

Miss Lyon, who lived alone in a terraced house in Water Street, Egerton, was the treasurer and an instructor at Bolton Sub-Aqua Club.

She was exploring the wreck as part of a trip organised by the club. Emergency services received a call at around 12.30pm and coastguards from Kirkwall and a local doctor went to the boat.

Club diving officer Martin Cooper, said: "Hilary was loved by everyone at the club and had been a member since 1989.

"She was very qualified and experienced as both a diver and an instructor, which makes these events all the more unbelievable. It is simply devastating.

"The club has been going for 40 years and we have never, ever known anything like this happen before. It has shaken us all rigid.

"She was very well known in the local diving community but our loss is nothing compared to that of her family.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time."

A Northern Constabulary spokesman said: "The next of kin have been informed.

"Our inquiries are continuing and a report on the circumstances will be submitted to the procurator fiscal at Kirkwall."

A post mortem examination will be carried out in the next few days. The two divers who were with her in the water will be interviewed by police.

Mull Head is on the northern tip of Papa Westray, one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Orkneys with a population of about 50.

Miss Lyon, who had been married, worked at Cowgills Chartered Accountants on Chorley New Road until the early 1990s, and staff there remembered her as a popular part of the accounts team.