A MINE-CLEARING expert who lost his leg in an explosion while attempting to rescue a Lebanese shepherd has been rewarded for his bravery.

David Alderson, from Saltburn, and colleague Damir Paradzik, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, were presented with bronze medals by HRH Princess Alexandra during a ceremony in London.

The two men lost legs in the rescue attempt in an unmarked minefield in November.

A third man, Nabil Hammoud, from Lebanon, also received a bronze medal for his part in the incident.

The awards were presented on behalf of the Royal Humane Society.

But despite the award, David Alderson is remaining modest.

Mr Alderson said: "I found out about four weeks ago, but I kept it quiet. My family are all chuffed to bits."

The three men, who work for ArmorGroup International, a private security company, were involved in a cluster bomb clearance operation in South Lebanon at the time of the incident.

They heard an explosion in a nearby field and saw a shepherd in distress. Mr Alderson, a former soldier, tried to direct the shepherd to safety but the language barrier and the man's state of shock made it impossible and Mr Alderson decided to try to rescue him.

Almost immediately, he stepped on a landmine, suffered serious leg injuries and was knocked unconscious. When he came to, he crawled to nearby rocks to await rescue.

The father-of-two was taken to hospital, where doctors amputated his badly-damaged leg.

Mr Paradzik and Mr Hammoud both attempted to reach Mr Alderson, but the former set off another mine and both men were knocked out.

Mr Paradzik also suffered serious leg injuries and, on regaining consciousness Mr Hammoud, who lost his front teeth in the explosion, pulled Mr Paradzik out of the minefield. The shepherd left the minefield unharmed.

All three met up at the awards ceremony for the first time since the accident.

Since losing his leg, Mr Alderson, 42, has been undergoing treatment at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and has been having physiotherapy to learn how to walk on his prosthetic leg. He hopes to be back at work in a couple of months.

Dave Seaton, ArmorGroups chief executive, said: "We are very proud of the awards made to these men which highlight their selfless action."