• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Strange Deaths

Severe weather kills at least 21 cross country runners in China.

"At least 21 people have died as extreme weather struck a cross-country mountain race in north-western China.

On Saturday high winds and freezing rain hit participants in the 100km (60-mile) race in the Yellow River Stone Forest, a tourist site in Gansu province, state-run media reported.

The race was halted when some of the 172 runners went missing, Xinhua news agency said.

The bodies were found by search-and-rescue teams on Sunday."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57216601
 
Last edited by a moderator:
14 people have died after a cable car fell in Italy

"Fourteen people, including at least one child, have been killed and another child is seriously injured after a cable car fell on a mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy on Sunday.

The accident happened on a service transporting passengers from the resort town of Stresa up the nearby Mottarone mountain in the region of Piedmont.

Images from the scene show the wreckage lying in a steep wooded area."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57219737
 
Hope it was over pretty quickly for them. Can't begin to imagine the terror involved.
 
Death by dinosaur is not so common these days.
A man in Spain lost his phone inside a hollow dinosaur. He tried to retrieve but got stuck inside it's leg.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57226774
A couple of things im unsure about with this story, it states the sculpture was made of papiermachè and the leg was cracked enough to see the victim through, if this is true how did tje guy not break himself out, it states the sculpture is outside a public building that people pass regularly, so why did he not call for help, it also states he could not call for help because he was upside down, since when did this stop anyone calling for help, plus he had his phone in there that he was alledgely retrieving when he 'fell in', all has a smell of fish to me, i suspect foul play even if the police dont.
 
Death by dinosaur is not so common these days.
A man in Spain lost his phone inside a hollow dinosaur. He tried to retrieve but got stuck inside it's leg.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57226774
DeathByDinosaur copy.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In this case the death was straightforward enough, but the back story was a tangle of strangeness. The victim was building an explosive device he intended to sell so he could pay off a new lawnmower. It worked.

Needless to say, the authorities are very interested in learning who the victim's client may have been. It wouldn't surprise me if the device was being created for one of those gender reveal events.
Man dies after making explosive device to pay off lawnmower: Sheriff

The Ashtabula Sheriff’s Office and ATF agents are investigating after a 55-year-old Clay Street resident died when an improvised explosive device he was making exploded in his garage. ...

Sheriff officials say a neighbor told them the man was making the explosive in his garage and had planned to sell it to pay off a lawnmower he recently purchased.

Deputies responded to the 1300 block of Clay Street Saturday after being notified that Jefferson Fire Department was dispatched to the address. ...

Deputies were told that a male victim was trapped inside the garage. When deputies arrived on scene, the detached garage located behind the residence was burned to the ground and debris was scattered into the neighbor’s yard. ...

The victim was transported to University Hospitals Geneva Medical Center where he died from his injuries.
FULL STORY (With News Video): https://fox8.com/news/i-team/man-dies-after-making-explosive-device-to-pay-off-lawnmower-sheriff/
 
14 people have died after a cable car fell in Italy

"Fourteen people, including at least one child, have been killed and another child is seriously injured after a cable car fell on a mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy on Sunday.

The accident happened on a service transporting passengers from the resort town of Stresa up the nearby Mottarone mountain in the region of Piedmont.

Images from the scene show the wreckage lying in a steep wooded area."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57219737
An update on this today:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/26/italian-cable-car-brakes-tampered-with-say-prosecutors
"The emergency brakes on a cable car that crashed in northern Italy on Sunday, killing 14 people, had been “tampered with”, prosecutors said as three people were arrested on charges of suspected involuntary manslaughter and negligence."
 
An update on this today:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/26/italian-cable-car-brakes-tampered-with-say-prosecutors
"The emergency brakes on a cable car that crashed in northern Italy on Sunday, killing 14 people, had been “tampered with”, prosecutors said as three people were arrested on charges of suspected involuntary manslaughter and negligence."
There are reports the cable car was travelling at 100kph at the time of the accident.

"Three people have been arrested in Italy over Sunday's cable car accident that left 14 dead.

Investigators say the emergency brakes had been disabled and the three members of the operating company were aware.

According to a local transport official, the brake failure meant the car was travelling at over 100km/h (62 mph) when the cable broke"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57252289
 
Difficult to put this the right way without sounding disrespectful to the deceased, but their alibi for turning off the EMERGENCY BRAKES will be "interesting" to hear.
 
Yes they were drunk and disorderly, idiots.

A group of friends were sticking their heads out of the window of a moving train when one was killed after being hit by a tree branch, an inquest heard.

Bethan Roper, 28, suffered fatal head injuries after being hit by the branch at Twerton, between Bath and Bristol. Her friends said she put her head out of the window for around five seconds before they heard an impact.

Chanelle Hagland, who was travelling with Miss Roper, told police that they were not "drunk or disorderly". ...

Miss Hagland told police in a statement that they "all had quite a few drinks" but they were "used to drinking like that".

Toxicology tests found Miss Roper had a blood alcohol level of 142mg in 100ml of blood, meaning she was nearly twice the drink drive limit.


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-57288427
 
Yes they were drunk and disorderly, idiots.

A group of friends were sticking their heads out of the window of a moving train when one was killed after being hit by a tree branch, an inquest heard.

Bethan Roper, 28, suffered fatal head injuries after being hit by the branch at Twerton, between Bath and Bristol. Her friends said she put her head out of the window for around five seconds before they heard an impact.

Chanelle Hagland, who was travelling with Miss Roper, told police that they were not "drunk or disorderly". ...

Miss Hagland told police in a statement that they "all had quite a few drinks" but they were "used to drinking like that".

Toxicology tests found Miss Roper had a blood alcohol level of 142mg in 100ml of blood, meaning she was nearly twice the drink drive limit.


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-57288427
I didn't think you could open train windows any more. I was used to the old sort, the ones where you had to open the window in order to open the door from the outside, but now all the doors lock automatically, and I didn't think the windows even opened! Maybe it was an old carriage?

A terrible tragedy, but usually, by 28, people have grown out of this, haven't they?
 
I didn't think you could open train windows any more. I was used to the old sort, the ones where you had to open the window in order to open the door from the outside, but now all the doors lock automatically, and I didn't think the windows even opened! Maybe it was an old carriage?

A terrible tragedy, but usually, by 28, people have grown out of this, haven't they?

From the link:

Avon Coroner's Court heard the London Paddington to Exeter service was using carriages with droplight windows to enable passengers to use the handle on the outside to leave the train.

Sounds like old carriages.
 
What was a branch doing, hanging so close to the train?
 
From the link:

Avon Coroner's Court heard the London Paddington to Exeter service was using carriages with droplight windows to enable passengers to use the handle on the outside to leave the train.

Sounds like old carriages.
Those aren't just OLD, they are antiquated. Especially for the London train.

And I suppose a branch could have broken off something and been hanging. At the speed trains travel it wouldn't need to be fixed (they normally clear any obstacles that are too close to the track).
 
I see from a different report that this is what had happened. The branch had fallen and was leaning against a fence. But I think it's a bit rich to say that the accident was 'foreseeable' and there should have been regular inspections to stop this happening, when there are signs literally EVERYWHERE on trains telling you not to stick your head, or arms out of the windows... Where does personal responsibility come into it?
 
I see from a different report that this is what had happened. The branch had fallen and was leaning against a fence. But I think it's a bit rich to say that the accident was 'foreseeable' and there should have been regular inspections to stop this happening, when there are signs literally EVERYWHERE on trains telling you not to stick your head, or arms out of the windows... Where does personal responsibility come into it?

I bet her drunken friends sue for the PTSD they suffered.
 
I see from a different report that this is what had happened. The branch had fallen and was leaning against a fence. But I think it's a bit rich to say that the accident was 'foreseeable' and there should have been regular inspections to stop this happening, when there are signs literally EVERYWHERE on trains telling you not to stick your head, or arms out of the windows... Where does personal responsibility come into it?
But at 28 should you really need a sign to tell you not to do something grossly stupid anyway. No such thing as personal responsibility now it would seem.
 
But at 28 should you really need a sign to tell you not to do something grossly stupid anyway. No such thing as personal responsibility now it would seem.
Apparently because the sign only said 'caution', it implied that you could stick parts of yourself out of the window, you just had to be careful doing it.

Maybe trains should be like aircraft, where you can be denied boarding if you seem to be under the influence of alcohol?
 
A couple of things im unsure about with this story, it states the sculpture was made of papiermachè and the leg was cracked enough to see the victim through, if this is true how did tje guy not break himself out, it states the sculpture is outside a public building that people pass regularly, so why did he not call for help, it also states he could not call for help because he was upside down, since when did this stop anyone calling for help, plus he had his phone in there that he was alledgely retrieving when he 'fell in', all has a smell of fish to me, i suspect foul play even if the police dont.
Papier machè can be thick and very tough. A sculpture of that size would most likely be built around a chicken wire frame so you couldn't just shove your way out.

Also, someone jammed head-down in a narrow space would sooner or later become unconscious and die of suffocation when their abdominal organs compressed their lungs.

Two words: Nutty Putty. :omg:
 
One Simon Brown died in the same way in 2016. He was travelling as a passenger when he leaned out of a 'droplight' window and his head hit a trackside sign.
The company was fined for 'cluttering' the space around the warning sign.

Rail firm fined £1 million after man killed sticking his head out of Gatwick Express

Mr Brown was a train fanatic and railway volunteer and employee -

At the time of his death Mr Brown - described by his mother at an inquest as "a railway man through and through" - had just started a new job as an engineering technician for Hitachi near Bristol, having worked for Southern Rail as a commissioning engineer.

Described by family as a "train fanatic", he first volunteered as a 13-year-old on the Bluebell Line, a steam heritage railway near his family home in East Grinstead.

He volunteered hundreds of hours each year and became the youngest trustee of The Howden Trust, aged just 19.
 
One Simon Brown died in the same way in 2016. He was travelling as a passenger when he leaned out of a 'droplight' window and his head hit a trackside sign.
The company was fined for 'cluttering' the space around the warning sign.

Rail firm fined £1 million after man killed sticking his head out of Gatwick Express

Mr Brown was a train fanatic and railway volunteer and employee -
Ridiculous innit? The fine and the fact that as a fanatic and employee, he should have known better. Unfortunately fines for the terminally stupid seem few and far between.
 
Ridiculous innit? The fine and the fact that as a fanatic and employee, he should have known better. Unfortunately fines for the terminally stupid seem few and far between.
For sure.

Can remember reading about that accident at the time. His friends and colleagues were baffled as he was the last person they'd expect to have such an accident.
 
For sure.

Can remember reading about that accident at the time. His friends and colleagues were baffled as he was the last person they'd expect to have such an accident.
I guess it was a perfect case of 'familiarity breeds contempt'. He presumably thought he knew exactly how far it was safe to put one's head out of a train window, and, unfortunately, was proved fatally wrong.

My dad was a railwayman, a shunter. They used to take all sorts of liberties around trains in stations. Much as, presumably, cattle men do around their own cows...
 
IMy dad was a railwayman, a shunter. They used to take all sorts of liberties around trains in stations. Much as, presumably, cattle men do around their own cows...
Yup; as you'll know, railway culture is all about dealing with danger.

One of my managers used to remind us about a group of three track workers, all known to him, strolling across tracks for lunch who were too busy chatting to notice the approaching train.

They were all killed on the spot. Just for a minute's inattention. :(
 
Back
Top