Rescuers have called into question the claims of an experienced British diver and his American girlfriend who were winched to safety after being stranded for 19 hours in the seas off the Great Barrier Reef.

Richard Neely, 38, and Allyson Dalton, 40, who were found on Saturday, have flown to New York with a celebrity agent after selling their story to media outlets.

Mr Neely, a professional diving instructor, and Ms Dalton, a dive master, became separated from their group while diving at Paradise Lagoon. They said that they had watched their dinghy return the others to the catamaran, in an apparent repeat of the events that inspired the film Open Water, in which two divers are left to die.

Yesterday the sailing and scuba diving company OzSail issued a fierce rebuttal of the claims. In a statement, Ozsail said that the couple had failed to stay within the 200m diving zone and to follow other safety procedures. “Allyson and Richard did not remain on the dive site,” the spokesman said. They “did not follow the clear instructions of the dive instructor. Allyson and Richard did not surface immediately upon leaving Gary’s Lagoon.” OzSail also questioned why the bright yellow signalling device that they said they had inflated was not sighted.

Others on the diving boat said that it was unlikely the couple could have surfaced so close, and not been seen. OzSail said that their boat “instigated a full and proper search . . . in accordance with protocols” and that emergency services were alerted within an hour.

Mr Neely and his girlfriend have denied any wrongdoing, telling interviewers that they feel lucky to be alive.

The couple were flown to a Queensland hospital after an all-night search involving more than a dozen aircraft.

Mr Neely told a Sunday newspaper: “I thought we were going to die.” On Australian television, they denied ignoring safety instructions. Mr Neely said: “We were on the dive site for the entire time of our allocated dive time.”

Ms Dalton recalled an aircraft finally spotting them drifting 7.8 nautical miles from where they were last seen. They had tied themselves together and huddled to share body heat, Mr Neely said. His father Stuart, said yesterday: “How could it be their fault? Who would want to go through that?”

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