Diver Mark Girdlestone has returned after helping to lift a stricken Russian nuclear submarine from the seabed.

During the dangerous operation, his eardrums were burst after an underwater explosion.

Mr Girdlestone, of Brightlingsea, was part of an £80m operation to lift the 22,000-tonne submarine.

The Kursk, the pride of Russia's naval fleet, sank in the Barents Sea in August last year with the loss of 118 sailors after a blast thought to have been caused by a fuel problem near the torpedoes.

Mr Girdlestone was one of the divers who helped attach 26 nine-tonne grippers to the submarine before it was carefully lifted up and taken back to dry dock in Murmansk.

Mr Girdlestone, a former navy officer, was awarded the Platinum Pro 5,000 award, which puts him in the same league as the legendary Jacques Cousteau.

Mr Girdlestone, who runs Shoremark Diving and Marine in Brightlingsea High Street, said: "It was quite amazing to be working within four feet of a cruise missile silo. The whole thing did go to plan."

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