Diver who lost leg to underwater machinery awarded more than £750,000
A deep sea diver has been awarded more than £750,000 in compensation after losing a leg when he was crushed by a giant underwater hammer.
Allan Peacock, 55, was injured while working underwater off the coast of India in 2011.
A heavy pile, which acts like a hammer to nail another pile into the seabed, unexpectedly moved, sucking him between the two pieces of equipment and crushing his foot.
Mr Peacock was able to drag himself away and received medical treatment in India and Newcastle after flying home, but his injuries resulted in him having a below-knee amputation.
With efforts described as 'quite exceptional' by a surgeon, Mr Peacock was back working underwater within 18 months, with the help of a prosthetic leg.
Now, after suing at the High Court, he has been awarded £765,866 in compensation from his former employer, Del Seatek India Private Limited. He had already received £169,000 from the operator of the barge on which he was working.
The court heard Mr Peacock qualified in 1998 and was working as a saturation diver for Del Seatek when he was injured while working from a cargo barge in pipe-laying operations in Paradip, Odisha, in November 2011.
His barrister, Mark Chapman KC, said conditions were difficult, with poor visibility of only about a metre and a strong tide when he descended underwater in a dive basket to work at a depth of up to 30m.
His task was to disconnect two chains holding vertical piles together, one on top of the other, with the top driving the other into the seabed and 'acting like a hammer on a nail'.
As he began to work, the top pile parted from the other and the barge began to roll because of the tide, also causing the piles to move, the barrister continued.
'They parted because they were insecurely attached,' he said. 'There was too much slack in the chains holding them together.
'The claimant's right foot was sucked in between the parted piles before the top pile fell back on top of the bottom pile and, in doing so, crushed the foot.'
Mr Peacock was transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where he had to have an amputation because of the lack of blood flow to his foot.
Mr Chapman said the extent of his injury had been 'graphically revealed' to him and he was told without warning that amputation was required, which left him 'extremely shocked and quite emotional'.
'Following the accident, the claimant was absent from all/any work for a period of around 18 months,' he added.
'However, he is a stoical, resourceful and determined individual. He was resolute in his ambition to return to his pre-accident work, having independently researched the regulatory position applicable to amputees and commercial diving operations.
'The claimant has managed to return to work in a field which is very demanding with the use of prostheses provided by the NHS.'
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