FILM-MAKER Paul Berriff has witnessed more than his fair share of disasters.
Paul, 67, of Hessle, was the first on the scene after a light aircraft crash landed on a Florida beach, striking and killing a man, who was walking with his nine-year-old daughter. She was also injured.
The Humber Rescue trustee member was just three miles away from the Caspersen beach in Venice when the disaster struck on Sunday afternoon and he rushed to the scene to help, arriving at the same time as emergency crews.
It is not the first time he has been "in the wrong place at the right time" either. Paul is lucky to be alive after he was knocked unconscious when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11.
Paul was on the first rescue helicopter to reach the Piper Alpha inferno in the North Sea, which claimed 167 lives on July 6, 1988, and the first cameraman in Flixborough, near Scunthorpe, on June 10, 1974, when 28 people were killed in a factory explosion.
Paul said: "Being in the job I am in, I always describe it as being in the wrong place at the right time.
"It is quite amazing that wherever I go, disaster seems to follow me around."
Sarasota County Sheriff's Office named the man killed by the light aircraft as 36-year-old Ommy Irizarry, who died at the scene. The injured girl was named as Oceana Irizarry.
Karl Kokomoor, 57, was the pilot of the 1972 Piper Cherokee aircraft and his passenger was David Theen, 60. They were not injured.
Another woman who witnessed the accident suffered a heart attack.
It is thought Mr Kokomoor issued a may-day alert when the plane could not make it back to the airport and headed for the beach.
Paul captured the aftermath on his camera.
"I was at home and someone called and said a plane had gone down on the beach," he said.
"I live three miles away, so I got there just as the fire department was arriving. I saw the location of the crash wasn't near the road and firefighters and medics had to run down a mile to get to the scene.
"I followed them and saw this light aircraft had landed on the beach and had collided with people walking along.
"I took some photographs. Normally I would jump in and help but there were enough paramedics there.
"It was quite surreal that people were still sunbathing.
"People had realised what had happened but they were just carrying on swimming in the sea. It was an unusual sight."
While Paul has mastered the art of emotionally detaching himself from death and disaster, he still hopes he can manage to stay out of trouble – at least until his holiday is over.
"It shows you no matter where you are, something can come out of the blue and that's it.
"I have seen a considerable amount of stuff. You have to become detached from it, otherwise it would drive you mad."
Knocked unconscious as Twin Towers fellPaul Berriff was in New York on the day al-Qaeda terrorists flew two airliners into the World Trade Centre.
He was filming just 50 yards from the base of the building as the towers collapsed and he was knocked unconscious by debris.
Around him, 28 firefighters lost their lives as they tried to save the innocent people trapped inside the burning towers.
He was forced to crawl through the debris, battling air filled with cement dust.
It went up his nose and in his eyes, ears and mouth.
Mr Berriff, who is a father of two was later chosen to make a documentary, filming three members of New York's Fire Department as they came to terms with the events of 9/11.
He was given special permission to enter the disaster site at ground level to film the men's initial reactions as they returned for the first time.
