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Ridiculous Accidents

Wasnt someone saved by a copy of `Kim`, once?

Yes, and the book survives in the Library of Congress collections.
Maurice Hamonneau, a French legionnaire and the last survivor of an artillery attack near Verdun in the First World War, lay wounded and unconscious for hours after the battle. When he regained his senses, he found that a copy of the 1913 French pocket edition of Kim by Rudyard Kipling had deflected a bullet and saved his life by a mere twenty pages. Hamonneau's reward was a Croix de Guerre and the medal brought about a close friendship with Kipling. Hearing that the English writer was mourning the loss of his son John, who had served with the Irish Guards, the young Frenchman was moved to send the medal and the torn copy of Kim to Kipling. Kipling was overwhelmed and insisted that he would return the book and medal if Hamonneau were ever to have a son. Hannonneau did, and named him Jean in honor of John Kipling. Kipling returned the items with a charming letter to young Jean, advising him to always carry a book of at least 350 pages in the left breast pocket. The book eventually went to auction and arrived at the Library via the Colt-Kipling Collection.

SOURCE: More info, and a History Channel video about the incident and the book ...

https://www.loc.gov/item/myloc12/
 
My Mum recently told me about the time when she was a young apprentice milliner working in London (in the 1950s). She and another young colleague were waiting for a tube train. The train they'd just missed whisked her friend's hat off and onto the line. The friend jumped down and retrieved her hat. There were a few moments of drama as she tried to climb back up, but a couple of strong city gents grabbed her and pulled her up just before the next train swooshed in. Lucky escape!
 
Man Dies After Getting Stuck In Water Park Support Pipe

17th Aug 2020: Emergency Services were called to Eldorado Aquatic Park in Scottsdale, Arizona, after receiving reports of a 32-year-old man who was stuck. A police officer heard muffled cries for help as he patrolled the area and eventually realised they were coming from one of the pipes that help to hold up a water slide at the park. It's not known how he got stuck in the pipe and crews have been working to take apart the slide in order to get the body of the victim out.
View attachment 29537

https://www.ladbible.com/news/news-man-dies-after-getting-stuck-in-waterpark-support-pipe-20200817
Getting stuck in one of these things is persistent worry of mine, had it for years. Hated taking the kids to water parks as they always want to go on the slides. No idea why I have this fear of getting stuck, I used to have nightmares about a special plunger being used to flush me out to a round of Ironical applause and sneering.

I'm really not that big and the kids think its hilarious
 
As you dealt with Army personnel and the RAF case is set out in detail, they must be two different incidents.

Not asking you to disclose anything confidential, but would the costume in the unfortunate Army mishap have been the inside of a duvet made into a sheep disguise? In which case, that's four blazing sheep costume occurrences!
Sorry just spotted this. No the costume in question apparently involved cotton wool balls being glued onto the body and head. So could have been the adhesive or the "cotton wool balls" were not actually cotton which does not generally burn well.
 
Sorry just spotted this. No the costume in question apparently involved cotton wool balls being glued onto the body and head. So could have been the adhesive or the "cotton wool balls" were not actually cotton which does not generally burn well.
The burning sheep costume incidents are piling up!
 
Visitor breaks iconic Koons Balloon Dog sculpture in Miami

Via BBC News
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Man lying down on stranger’s drive gets run over & killed

Either asleep or maybe unconscious after falling over & hitting head.

Henry Rafferty, 22, was making his way home from a night out with his friends when he laid down on the driveway. A male driver returning to the property in Hartlepool did not see Henry and ran him over.

The court heard that Henry died as the result of injuries to his torso. A post-mortem found that Henry, a transport manager, had alcohol in his system to the equivalent of around three times the drink drive limit.

Assistant coroner Karin Welsh described Henry's death as a "tragic accident." Being unable to see Henry in the driveway was not unusual due to the large number of trees.

"It was a driveway that led to the rear of a property. It appears that it was not well-lit. On this particular evening, it appears the gentleman was returning home. He stopped and turned onto the driveway."

After pulling into the driver, the male driver and his wife made the horrific discovery that Henry was underneath the vehicle after feeling a bump.

Emergency services were called, but nothing could be done to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
 
Warning - slightly eye-watering account.
My neighbours son had moved in with his girlfriend into a new house and (for some reason) he had to drill all the way through a wall.
Because she didn't want dust to go everywhere she got a damp tea-towel, rolled it into a ball, and held it over the approximate exit point of the drill bit.
He drilled through from the other side and the towel quickly wrapped around the end of the drill but also trapped her finger and ripped it off, pulling the tendon out of her arm at the same time.
She has had to have reattachment surgery and months of rehabilitation.
Be careful out there folks.
 
Warning - slightly eye-watering account.
My neighbours son had moved in with his girlfriend into a new house and (for some reason) he had to drill all the way through a wall.
Because she didn't want dust to go everywhere she got a damp tea-towel, rolled it into a ball, and held it over the approximate exit point of the drill bit.
He drilled through from the other side and the towel quickly wrapped around the end of the drill but also trapped her finger and ripped it off, pulling the tendon out of her arm at the same time.
She has had to have reattachment surgery and months of rehabilitation.
Be careful out there folks.
When dust is an issue, I drill with one hand and hold the vacuum cleaner with my other (or get someone else to hold it).
 
When you drill some walls they make a lot of dust that doesn't sweep up easily.
My house is built of hard concrete. The dust from drilling has to be hoovered straight out of the hole or it settles all around and sticks like glue.
It also saves having to move any clutter ornaments, furniture etc.
 
A guy on one of my sites last week was attempting to manoeuvre a precast concrete panel into place. The panel, weighing 2 tons, slipped off its top fixings just as the guy put his hand under the bottom of the panel, a definite no no. They lifted the panel off his hand sufficiently enough for him to wriggle it out of his glove which remained trapped. Unfortunately a bit of finger was still inside.
The hospital are rebuilding three of his fingers to the best of their ability, he will be off work and not earning for several weeks and will have trouble picking his nose with that hand in future, and we have another RIDDOR reportable accident to add to the list.
It doesn’t matter how much training and instruction you give to these guys, there is always a chance instinct will take over and they do something silly, like put a hand under a suspended load.
 
When you drill some walls they make a lot of dust that doesn't sweep up easily.
My house is built of hard concrete. The dust from drilling has to be hoovered straight out of the hole or it settles all around and sticks like glue.
Wot the eye don't/can't see, the 'eart don't grieve about...
 
On 'suspicion' of drink driving.
Well if he wasn't pissed up that took some special skills to get it in there.
At least was in the wee small hours of the morning. I can't imagine the horror if it had been 5pm and people were around.
 
A guy on one of my sites last week was attempting to manoeuvre a precast concrete panel into place. The panel, weighing 2 tons, slipped off its top fixings just as the guy put his hand under the bottom of the panel, a definite no no. They lifted the panel off his hand sufficiently enough for him to wriggle it out of his glove which remained trapped. Unfortunately a bit of finger was still inside.
The hospital are rebuilding three of his fingers to the best of their ability, he will be off work and not earning for several weeks and will have trouble picking his nose with that hand in future, and we have another RIDDOR reportable accident to add to the list.
It doesn’t matter how much training and instruction you give to these guys, there is always a chance instinct will take over and they do something silly, like put a hand under a suspended load.
Yup, that happens!

Quoting myself'ere -

My youngest, Escette, works in the metal-testing industry. She has shared some gruesome tales which I will dig out for Board delectation.

The most recent was about an experienced, well-trained tester who managed to insert his hand into a high-pressure press. Escette is a first aider and although she was not first on the scene she assisted and was able to ring 999 and organise the ambulance.

As in, 'Has the entire hand been struck?' 'Yes.' 'How is the bleeding?' 'There's not much.' 'That will be because the blood vessels have been crushed closed. Can you see any fingers?' etc.

Although Escette was not present at the accident she did see it later on the CCTV recording.

She said the guy stuck his hand under the press to pick something up and about a second later when it was crushed he yanked it back and stared at it, or what was left of it. Like when a girl admires her engagement ring. Only there was no ring. Or finger.
 
On 'suspicion' of drink driving.
Well if he wasn't pissed up that took some special skills to get it in there.
At least was in the wee small hours of the morning. I can't imagine the horror if it had been 5pm and people were around.
One assumes he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, which is a reasonable enough asumption in the circumstances, and then carted off to A&E for a check over before being tested for blood alcohol levels.
 
One assumes he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, which is a reasonable enough asumption in the circumstances, and then carted off to A&E for a check over before being tested for blood alcohol levels.
I think when I read about it earlier it said the driver had 'fled the scene' or words to that effect, which would lead one to believe he was 'over the limit' and didn't want to get breathalysed at the scene.
AFAIK the police take a dim view of this sort of thing and assume the driver to have been drunk at the time.
In any event, parking your car sideways in a basement walkout should carry a hefty penalty anyways.
 
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