freak accidents

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Tourist Exits Car to Take Photos, Is Killed by Elephants

The Spaniard died Sunday morning in a national park in South Africa

(Newser) - A 43-year-old tourist was trampled to death by elephants Sunday morning while attempting to take photos of them at a South African national park. The AP reports the Spaniard was with his fiancee and two other women at Pilanesberg National Park in North West province when officials there say he...

Plane Mechanic Dies in Horrific Accident on Tarmac

Abolfazl Amiri was sucked into engine of Boeing 737 at Iran's Chabahar Konarak Airport

(Newser) - A mechanic searching for a tool on the tarmac at an Iranian airport instead suffered a tragic death after he was sucked into a Varesh Airlines plane engine. The Times of India reports that the Boeing 737-500 flying in from Tehran landed safely at Chabahar Konarak Airport around 7:15am...

Man Warning Kids Off Beach Killed by Lightning

Patrick Dispoto, 59, dies in New Jersey lightning strike after trying to warn kids out of the water

(Newser) - Authorities say a New Jersey man died over the weekend after getting caught in a thunderstorm and struck by lightning on the beach. Police in Seaside Park tell NJ Advance Media that a 911 call came in shortly after 7:30pm on Sunday, and when first responders found 59-year-old Patrick...

Floating Sauna Saves Tesla Passengers From Icy Fjord

Half-naked patrons pulled stranded motorists out of water in Norwegian capital of Oslo

(Newser) - As Tesla handles a new recall in the US , a Tesla owner on the other side of the globe dealt with a different kind of issue this week. A witness tells the Norwegian newspaper VG that the Tesla was cruising Thursday near the quay at the foot of Oslo's...

Boy Who Survived Cancer Dies 'Unbearable' Death

Elyas Marshall-Rodriguez, 9, was killed after crawling under moving school bus in Florida

(Newser) - Elyas Marshall-Rodriguez was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2, but by age 9, the Florida boy was in remission and looking forward to moving on. That makes what happened at an Orange County bus stop this week doubly tragic: According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Elyas was killed...

He Descended Into Cesspool Hole, Was Buried Alive

38-year-old Lauro Pacheco died while working on septic system on Long Island property

(Newser) - A man working on a septic system on Long Island died after being buried alive, despite first responders' desperate, hourslong efforts to save him. Fox News reports that 38-year-old Lauro Pacheco, a Bay Shore resident, was part of the Darius Masonry team that was installing cesspool rings Monday at the...

Regulations Dragged as Home Item Kept Killing Kids

Cords from window coverings caused the death of more than 450 kids in the last 50 years

(Newser) - More than 450 kids, most of them toddlers, died from strangulation after getting tangled up in the cords of window coverings since the early '70s. An NBC News investigation—formatted via a timeline that tracks industry and government actions, alongside tragic firsthand accounts from parents—now asks why more...

Grad Student Dies While Duck Hunting: 'Water Overcame His Waders'

OSU student, 24, was visiting Sooner Lake when 'unfortunate incident' took place

(Newser) - A grad student who went duck hunting in Oklahoma over the weekend has died in what local officials are calling an "unfortunate incident." Citing a statement from Oklahoma Game Wardens, Fox News and News 9 report that the unnamed 24-year-old Oklahoma State University student headed out Sunday morning...

Bird Crashed Through Chopper Windshield, Right Into Pilot

Helicopter pilot 'covered in blood and feathers' after accident with waterfowl that struck him in head

(Newser) - While Americans carved their turkeys during Thanksgiving dinner this year, Iowa's Troy McCormick spent the holiday dealing with an entirely different kind of bird. The pilot with the Wings Air Rescue critical-care helicopter service out of Sioux City tells KCAU that he was flying his chopper toward a Storm...

5 Die in Accident in 'Instagram-Famous' Elevator

Hotel workers die when the inclined elevator they were in plunged hundreds of feet

(Newser) - Tragedy struck a Balinese resort on Friday afternoon: Five hotel workers died when the cable pulling the inclined elevator they were in snapped, sending them more than 200 feet down a ravine and causing them to break through a barrier at the lift's base, reports the New Zealand Herald ...

Zoo: We've 'Never Experienced an Accident Like This'

Mila, a Siberian tiger at Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, suffered injury under anesthesia

(Newser) - There are thought to be roughly 1,000 Siberian tigers in the world, the majority of those held in captivity. Now, there's one fewer. A critically endangered Siberian tiger held at a Colorado zoo died in a "freak accident" Friday during preparations for a dental procedure, ABC News...

Man Falls Into Manhole, Is Swept a Mile Through Sewers

'Amazing' that he lived through it, city official says after rescue in Omaha, Nebraska

(Newser) - Firefighters rescued two Nebraska men who fell into a manhole during heavy rain in downtown Omaha on Friday, including one who was washed about a mile through sewer pipes before getting trapped behind a metal grate, per the AP . The men, who were workers for a private contractor, Ace Pipe...

Woman Loses Leg on Airport's Moving Walkway

Horrific accident happened in Thailand

(Newser) - A woman's leg had to be amputated in a Thai airport after it was trapped by a moving walkway Thursday, officials said. The 57-year-old Thai passenger was due to board a morning flight from Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport to the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province when she was...

Someone Celebrated His Baseball Win a Little Too Hard

Mets closer Edwin Diaz may be out for season after hurting knee in World Baseball Classic celebration

(Newser) - New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz suffered a possibly season-ending injury Wednesday at a World Baseball Classic game, but it wasn't during the game itself. The Wall Street Journal reports that Diaz, 28, finished off the ninth inning during the international tournament in Miami for Puerto Rico's 5-2...

Investigators Trace Fall of Prop Helicopter Into Pool

Wire rope was damaged, officials say, as water park reopens

(Newser) - New Jersey investigators say a damaged wire rope was behind the plunge of a decorative helicopter into a swimming pool last weekend at a water park, which the state allowed to reopen Saturday. A spokeswoman for the state agency that oversees the park said the wire rope "used to...

Ohio Runner's Ear Nearly Severed by Deer

Rebecca Heasley was participating in a local race

(Newser) - An Ohio woman who was running a two-hour "Space Race" on Oct. 1 ended up having a frighteningly out-of-this-world experience. As Rebecca Heasley of Willowick explains, she initially thought she was hit by another runner who got too close to her. Then she saw blood on her hands. A...

On Tree-Lined Street, a Routine Trimming Turns Tragic

Tree trimmer dies after being pulled into wood chipper in Menlo Park, Calif.

(Newser) - What residents describe as routine arboricultural care in their tree-lined California neighborhood ended in tragedy on Tuesday. Authorities say a tree trimmer working in Menlo Park, located on the outskirts of San Francisco, was killed after he fell or was pulled into a wood chipper shortly before 1pm, reports the...

Baggage Handler Killed in Freak Accident at NOLA Airport

Jermani Thompson was unloading baggage from a flight that had landed

(Newser) - A 26-year-old employee at the New Orleans airport was killed in a freak accident on Tuesday night. Jermani Thompson was working on the tarmac where planes are parked and was in the process of offloading luggage from a Frontier flight that had landed when her hair became caught in the...

'Violent' Winds Lead to Death, Injuries at Music Fest

One person killed, 'dozens' injured after part of stage collapses at Spain's Medusa Fest in Cullera

(Newser) - The plan for Friday evening at Spain's Medusa Festival, the first night of the six-day event, involved multiple DJs entertaining the crowds across five stages all night long. But that's not how things went down, after high winds caused a portion of the main stage to collapse, killing...

SC Woman Killed by Umbrella on Beach Outing

Tammy Perreault, 63, died Wednesday in South Carolina

(Newser) - A midweek beach outing turned tragic for a South Carolina woman after an umbrella blew over and fatally impaled her. WMBF reports that 63-year-old Tammy Perreault of Horry County was struck in the chest Wednesday around 12:40pm by the umbrella. It had toppled with the wind on the shore...

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