An Army veteran rescued from a Fife harbour spent a week in a coma in Ninewells Hospital without being identified.
The man, later named as Ross, suffered serious injuries after falling into the water at Anstruther.
He was pulled to safety by lifeboat volunteers and taken to Dundee, where he was placed into an induced coma.
But he had no ID on him and there were no missing person reports that matched his description – so investigations by emergency services initially failed to identify who he was.
The incident from August 2021 featured on the BBC documentary series Saving Lives at Sea on Thursday night.
The programme showed how Ross had fallen between the harbour wall and a walkway at Anstruther Harbour, next to the Reaper boat – just a short distance from his home.
He was stuck in mud and in distress – meaning he struggled to communicate with the rescue teams.
Eventually, two RNLI crew members pulled him free and dragged him through the water to a waiting lifeboat before he was taken to Ninewells by ambulance.
However, the show revealed that emergency services were unable to identify him for a week while he was receiving treatment in Ninewells.
Anstruther lifeboat casualty ‘didn’t have a clue’ why he was in hospital after waking from coma
Speaking on the documentary, Ross – who was eventually found to be an Anstruther resident – said: “My memory is quite bad, it was like waking up from a dream.
“I can’t remember anything from that day.
“I remember leaving my front door and it being a nice day but apart from that, nothing.
“The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital.
“I didn’t have a clue why I was there. There was confusion over who I was. The police didn’t know who I was.
“The nurses came and explained what had happened. I split the back of my head open, I broke seven ribs, I’ve got stitches across my chest and hip.
“I can’t remember any of the RNLI crew, I can’t remember anyone who was there on the day of the accident.
“If there wasn’t people like that out there I might not be here today.”
One of the lifeboat volunteers who helped Ross told how he kept a tight grip of her hand as he waited to be removed from the water, but was unable to tell her what was wrong.
Instead, he was only able to groan in pain.
The RNLI crew member said: “It’s always horrible to see someone in distress, you just want to help as much as you can, but it’s a really horrible feeling when you know that they’re suffering.”
It was only when they got him on a stretcher that they realised he had cuts to his head and back.
Ross – who moved to Anstruther after serving in the Army for three years – said later in the show that his injuries are still healing.
He said: “Since I had the accident I’m still in pain with my ribs. I get quite a lot of back pain. Apart from that, I’ve recovered.
“My relationship with the sea is a bit strange because I can’t swim so really I should stay away from it.
“But the accident hasn’t stopped me coming down to the harbour, it’s just made me more aware of how dangerous it could be.”
Lifeboat volunteers ‘some of the best people you can meet’
He also revealed how he often visits the lifeboat station, adding: “It’s nice to be able to go round and let them know I was grateful for what they done.
“I would just like to say thank you to the RNLI. They put their own lives at risk to save people.
“They don’t get paid for what they do. They’re just some of the best people you can meet.”
Conversation