Was just going to shower – then the wife heard a roar – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio

– It could have been so much worse. He could have damaged his food pipe, or become blind. And fifteen minutes earlier I was in the shower with both kids. That’s what Eva Egaas Knutsen says to news, who first told the story about the man to the newspaper Agder. Stig Knutsen was one of two people who were reported as injured after getting lye on himself. On Monday evening, it was discovered that large quantities of lye had for a short period run into the drinking water spring Storekvina in Kvinesdal. The municipality sent out a message to residents that the water in the tap was brown and had high levels of lye. During that period, Stig Knutsen stood in the shower, and they didn’t know what was wrong. Full of hurt, Eva heard a roar from the bathroom. She thought it was nonsense, but she ran in anyway to see the man. – He thought there was something wrong with the soap. I saw that he was all red. At first we thought we’d rinse this off, so he went back into the shower. But then I saw that the water was brown. Eva then saw that he had blood on his hands and was sore everywhere. – He had marks all over him. From head to toe. We didn’t understand what happened. It was completely unreal, she says. They started by calling around to the family, the poison control center and the emergency room. Finally, they were told that he had to be checked by a doctor, and was eventually sent to the Hospital in Stavanger (SUS). He received good treatment there, and was already home again on Tuesday evening. Stig has suffered first-degree burns on his body, says Eva. Now he has to take extra care of the sun. But even if the summer holiday may not be quite as normal, Eva is just glad it didn’t get any worse. – We’ll see how the days ahead turn out. He is doing well according to the relationship. This is what the water in the shower looked like when Stig Knutsen suffered burns due to the high lye content in the water. Photo: Private Unclear what has happened Around 160 residents in the municipality receive drinking water from Storekvina. – It is still unclear to us what has happened, said unit manager for technical operations in Kvinesdal municipality Geir Netland on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, the mayor of Kvinesdal, Per Sverre Kvinlaug, can inform news that they still do not have any clear answers. A warning system should have detected that there was too much lye in the water, but it has not worked, says Kvinlaug. – We will now investigate and find an answer to that. All nine hydropower plants in the municipality will be checked after the incident, the mayor says. The municipality has asked residents who may have swallowed the water to contact the emergency department. Kvinesdal seen from Utsikten. Around 160 residents from here receive drinking water from Storekvina. Photo: Hans Erik Weiby / news



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