A DIVER from York who dug an injured colleague out of a collapsed undersea trench with his bare hands is to receive a national award for his bravery.

Richard Fila will travel to 10 Downing Street tomorrow to receive his accolade for rescuing a fellow diver who was covered in tonnes of mud and stones, in an accident which happened during an engineering project under the Irish sea.

Richard, 27, of Bellhouse Way, Foxwood, whose father, Steve, owns a diving business in Appleton Roebuck, reached the fellow diver's helmet and restored his air supply before freeing him and helping him get to hospital.

Richard, who has worked as a commercial diver for four years, will join nine other National Life Savers at a special reception hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He said: "I'm very pleased to be receiving the award and it's good to get the recognition, although I must admit I'm pretty humble about it.

"I was just doing my job and it is very gratifying to know that I did it correctly and at the end of the day my working partner's life was saved."

The accident happened during preparation for part of a 7km pipeline project across Dublin Bay.

Steve, who nominated his son for the Vodafone Life Savers Award, said: "I am tremendously proud of my son, who modestly feels he only did his job - but he did it very well."

Updated: 11:48 Wednesday, November 06, 2002