A Perth psychiatric patient has been rescued from the River Tay twice in two days, prompting calls for a review of his care.
Almost 60 firefighters, at least three police officers and an ambulance crew were scrambled for the operations, estimated to have cost “thousands” of pounds.
The 36-year-old man was first fished from the “treacherous” waterway at 5.30am on Sunday.
The alarm was raised by a pedestrian who spotted him from Queen’s Bridge and 15 firefighters from Perth’s river rescue team were deployed, along with a dozen colleagues from stations in Dunkeld and Coupar Angus.
He was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary and released the same day, only to wade into the water again, at around 6pm on Monday.
The second river rescue at the height of rush hour involved 30 firefighters from Perth and Dundee.
Perth Fire Station manager Euan Baird, who oversaw Monday’s operation, said: “Due to the depth of the water they inflated the raft, as opposed to using the boat.
“Any part of the River Tay in that area is treacherous and you can get swept away quite quickly. They used wading techniques, as he was waist deep, and they walked him back to the shore.
“We had back-up from Dundee’s river rescue team because this is the highest risk area on the river, but they were turned back because we were able to affect a rescue quite quickly.”
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Servicespokeswoman said dozens of firefighters were sent to both incidents.
“Water rescue teams from Perth and Kingsway were deployed on Monday, although Kingsway were turned back before they attended. Each water rescue team has 15 firefighters,” she said.
“On Sunday the water rescue team from Perth attended, as did appliances from Coupar Angus and Dunkeld. Each appliance carried six firefighters.”
The man has already sparked several manhunts after he was reported missing three times in a matter of months.
Police issued two separate appeals when the outpatient failed to return to the psychiatric unit on June 8 and again on June 11.
He also went missing on December 17.