A man who died while scuba diving off the north bank of the Firth of Forth on Sunday (10 April) has been named as Les Elder by Fife Police. The 45-year-old lived near Saline, a village some 34km from the dive-site at Kinghorn.
Elder had been on what was described as an organised dive off Kinghorn beach, which has a harbour on one side and a lifeboat station on the other.
An emergency call went out from a boat at around 9.10am, reporting that a diver had suffered a suspected medical event.
It happened that first responders Kinghorn RNLI had just launched their lifeboat on a training exercise, so the volunteers were able to reach the scene in only three minutes.
“Our crew provided casualty care whilst the diver was brought to Kinghorn beach,” stated the lifeboat crew. “Treatment continued ashore prior to handover to the ambulance service.”
A Coastguard helicopter and police were also standing by on the beach but the diver was declared dead at the scene.
“Les was a much-loved family man and will be missed by everyone who knew him,” stated his family. A report has been sent to the Procurator Fiscal, which is standard practice for all sudden deaths in Scotland.