A diver who suffered a serious chemical burn in a freak accident with a therapeutic heat pad reckons his calm reaction saved his life.
Gavin Anderson’s pad exploded when he was diving below 160 feet in the Forth, burning his lower back.
Had he returned to the surface too quickly he could have suffered potentially fatal decompression sickness.
Instead, Gavin endured an agonising 20-minute ascent as he carefully returned to the surface following correct procedures.
The photographer, from Milnathort, had been using gas enriched with oxygen instead of the oxygen tank he normally uses. When he vented his dry suit the gas reacted with the chemical in the pack he was wearing for back pain.
He said: “This was a pretty unusual situation but it could happen to someone else so people should be aware that these heat pads can be quite dangerous in certain circumstances.”
Gavin had sailed with fellow divers to a submarine wreck in an area known as Wee Bankie, 16 miles east of Anstruther, when the incident occurred around midday on Saturday.
He said: “I was at 50 metres (164ft) when it started to burn and I had to come up slowly. The problem was it continued to burn as I was coming up.
“The pain was isolated to a small area of my back so I could just about cope with it but it was a pretty horrible experience.”
Gavin was given first aid by crew on the Mako dive boat, including skipper Steve Haddow who he thanked for raising the alarm, and Anstruther lifeboat, before being rushed by ambulance to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
The all-weather lifeboat was dispatched at 12.20pm and the inshore lifeboat brought paramedic shore crew member Morag Morris to assist.
Gavin was released from hospital on Saturday evening but his burn is so severe that he is to return for a skin graft tomorrow.
The response of the dive boat skipper and fellow divers was commended by Anstruther lifeboat operations manager John on Tuesday.
He said: “I have to praise the skipper of the local dive boat and the divers themselves for the way in which they remained calm…
“They were well equipped and ready to deal effectively with this incident.
“Morag was on scene to assist and this man was handed over to the ambulance crew having received the very best level of first aid.”