Diver recorded his 'final moments' after being left stranded 30 miles off shore

A diver who became stranded 30 miles from shore for six hours thought it was all over.

Thinking his time was up, he decided to capture his 'final moments' on camera.

Take a look at the terrifying footage below:

Jacob Childs, then 30, was with a group of divers off the coast of south-east Queensland, Australia back in 2016.

After emerging from the water, the diver realised he had lost sight of the safety rope and that the boat was pulling further and further away.

Despite attempts to catch up, Jacob was left alone in the middle of the sea in the dark, coming to the conclusion that a rescue team weren't going to find him.

Jacob felt he was left with no choice but to record his final moments.

In the video, he can be heard saying: "So that's it. The sun goes down they won't do nothing. That's a wrap on old Jakey."

In a follow-up, the diver explained that he got into trouble when he surfaced and found that the rope had been pulled in.

He thought it was over. (YouTube/Jacob Childs)

And to make matters worse, rather than coming back to get him, the captain drove off.

Jacob told ABC News : "We took a while to anchor up ... which left us [with] several people in different states of readiness. I was one of the first to hop in [to the water].

"It was then 15 minutes before the last people hopped in ... in which time we were fighting the current the whole way.

"Then we started to descend down the line. One person was up the top, so I went to swap hands and I missed the rope ... so I surfaced alongside to the boat.

"There was no tagline out the back for me to grab on to ... by the time the skipper had thrown it out I was already past it."

I can't think of anything more terrifying than being stuck out at sea with nobody around to hear you call for them.

He told the Express: "It's a long time to spend by yourself, and it's a long swim back to shore.

"There's nothing to judge where you are. All the waves look the same and there's no land to try and gage yourself against.

He recorded his 'final moments'. (YouTube/Jacob Childs)

Fortunately, unbeknownst to Jacob, a rescue operation was underway.

"I think they picked me up eight miles from where we were diving." he explained.

At about 5.30pm, a plane spotted him bobbing along in the water.

Jacob said: "I was nice and warm in my wetsuit ... I wasn't overly tired as I was floating.

"I just wanted a drink of water and a cup of tea."

The officer in charge of the rescuing him, Sergeant Rob Jorna, said that Jacob's experience as a diver and an instructor made it possible for the team to find him.

"He knew what to do, and his level headedness at the time, and he didn't panic and he did all the right things, and activated his safety equipment which alerted the air observer," he said.

Topics: YouTube, Health, World News