A major rescue swung into action in Kirkcaldy on Friday as a man threatened to end his life.
The drama unfolded shortly before 3pm when the man, who has not been named, waded into the freezing waters of the Forth off the town’s esplanade.
He was brought to safety about an hour later after police negotiators, aided by a friend of the man, convinced him to return to safety.
Shortly after he was brought back to shore he was rushed to hospital by ambulance.
Emergency vehicles lined the Esplanade as the two negotiators and the friend talked to the man from an RNLI lifeboat from Kinghorn.
A coastguard rescue team from Leven was on standby at the scene. The ambulance service also deployed an emergency support unit. Police cordoned off a stretch of the waterfront.
Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers gathered as the sensitive operation took place.
Inspector Graham Seath from Fife Constabulary said: “This incident was brought to a successful conclusion with paramedics, coastguard, police and trained negotiators, who went out on the boat and managed to speak to him, along with a friend.
“He’s been in the water all the time and obviously we do have concerns regarding hypothermia, and he is receiving treatment in hospital.”
The man is understood to have been about waist-deep in the icy waters for the duration of the incident, and was believed to have swallowed pills.
An onlooker described him as standing on a sewage pipe and said there were fears he would slip off.
Following his rescue, he was being treated at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, and was believed to have suffered “no long-lasting effects” from his ordeal.