Tributes to 'exceptional diver'

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Colleagues of a diver who died on Sunday during an underwater filming mission in Greece described him as one of the world's best in his profession.

Carl Spencer, 37, from Staffordshire, was part of a crew exploring a British ship which sank during World War I in the Aegean.

The Greek authorities said he died from suspected decompression sickness, commonly called the bends.

A colleague said the industry had lost someone "very special".

Dr Panayiotis Bouras, a lawyer also working on the National Geographic project said Mr Spencer, a father-of-two from Kings Bromley, near Burton upon Trent, was an exceptional man.

"I do not believe there was another diver like him. He was a leader in deep-sea diving," he said.

Mr Spencer had been leading a filming expedition around the Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, which sunk after hitting a mine in 1916.

He was flown to Greece's naval hospital in Athens, but he did not regain consciousness.