Cape Town - A solo round-the-world yachtsman who saved his arm by operating on himself using e-mailed instructions in mid-ocean said yesterday it had been the worst experience of his life.
"I have been a few times in my life in pretty dangerous situations, but this time I think it was the worst," Mr Viktor Yazykov (50), a former Russian special forces soldier who saw action in Afghanistan, told Reuters Television.
Mr Yazykov, taking part in the Around Alone yacht race, was still nearly 1,500 kms short of Cape Town - the first staging-point in the event - on November 10th when an abscess on his right elbow threatened to turn gangrenous. In desperation he e-mailed race doctor Daniel Carlin in Boston who sent him detailed instructions on what to do, from sterilising the cabin and the necessary surgical implements, to how to make and close the incision.