FLAGS on Strathclyde's fire stations were at half mast yesterday in memory of a volunteer fireman who was one of the two who died on a fish farm barge on Loch Creran, near Oban.
Robert MacDonald, 45, of Port Appin, Argyll was named by police yesterday along with Maarten Pieter Den Heijer, 30, from Oban.
They are thought to have died from lack of oxygen caused by rusting in the hold of the barge where they had been inspecting pipes on Monday.
Local environmental health officer Iain MacKinnon said: "When it's a closed space rust takes all the oxygen out of the air. You have have to spot it very quickly." A third man, Campbell Files, aged 42, who was rescued from the barge, has been released from hospital.
Brian Sweeney, chief officer of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue service, said: "Robert was a well-respected member of the Appin volunteer unit which he served for eight years.
"Our thoughts are with his wife, daughter, family, friends and colleagues."
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