Man doing 'most dangerous job in the world' reveals brutal error that nearly cost him his life
A man who does a job few of us would ever be keen on doing has recalled the time he made an error that could have turned fatal.
There are few job roles more risky than those that deal with explosives, especially when those explosives are underwater.
Yet that's the niche Andy Torbet, a Scottish cave-explorer and underwater bomb disposal expert, does for a living.
The 49-year-old, who has enjoyed more than 15 minutes of fame presenting TV shows like Coast and The One Show, is tasked with patrolling pitch black sewers and complex cave networks in search of deadly detonators.
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Andy became familiar with disposing of bombs while serving in the Army and went on to hone his craft in the underwater unit by combining his expertise with his passion for cave diving.
The role often sees him working in total darkness, searching for the explosives simply by feel across lakes, rivers and sewers, with the risk of the explosives going off at the slightest touch.
Though he insists the work is 'actually very safe', Andy confessed there was one time he feared for his life.
This was when he became trapped alone in an underwater mine, surviving off only a tiny bit of oxygen left in his tank.
"It was quite late on in my career, which is why it happened. I was kind of complacent and it was in a flooded mine system," he told People Are Deep on YouTube.
Here, the water levels were 'much higher than normal' which, in such circumstances, would require him to use a guideline that runs from the surface through to underwater which the team follow along.
"Even if you can't see anything, you can hold the line, you're going to get out," Andy explained.
Yet on this day, he decided he would just 'follow the right hand wall' with his left hand, thinking he would be fine.
"It was just like nil nil visibility and I turned around and it turns out this mine system is a honeycomb," Andy added.
Feeling along the wall with his hand, as he planned, didn't quite work out as he struggled to find the surface.
At that depth, Andy said he realized he probably had around 10 minutes of gas left in his cylinders.
"It did get to the point where I started thinking, 'this is going to burn when that first bit of water enters my lungs, it's going to feel like fire in my lungs,'" he admitted.
Fortunately, Andy put his training to the test and kept himself calm and working on his breathing and miraculously found the surface.
He said: "That whole thing was preventable just be following the simple basic rules I've been following in cave diving for the last 10, 20 years. It's entirely my own fault.
"It will never happen again."
Andy continued: "I plan for every single thing going wrong. That’s why I’m still breathing. Complacency will kill you faster than any bomb. You have to turn up every single day ready."
The keen sky diver said the job is certainly risky, explaining how the team are 'still using 1940s methods'.
Andy went on to say: "Hand drill a tiny hole, pump in super saturated saltwater, let the salt crystallise and jam the fuse, then unscrew it. That’s it.
"Underwater, underground, in a claustrophobic crack of rock, pitch black, freezing water, completely alone – on paper it’s horrific, but if you plan for everything going wrong it’s actually very safe."
Despite how scary it is, Andy says he loves doing the job and 'doing things other people won't because they misunderstand the risk and I know I can make it safe'.
Interestingly, Andy also has a strange choice of dress for the job, revealing he doesn't wear a uniform or what you might expect.
"Police are expecting the big bomb suits," he added. "We rock up in short-sleeve order and trousers. They go, ‘Where’s your protective gear?’ I’m like, if that goes off, you’re not surviving it anyway.
"Might as well be comfortable."
Liv Bridge