Weird news - Man gets lucky, falls 13,000 feet and survives

From time to time, one hears of stories where people fall from higher levels in high rise buildings and survive, sometime with minor injuries, and yet you can also hear of cases where people fell from a few meters and suffered horrific injuries or died. But, can you imagine that you could fall from a sky-jump, not have your main chute fall and the reserve one only open when you are very close to the ground, and yet survive. Such a person is incredibly lucky, since even some injuries are unprecedented in such a fall, and yet if you fall from a height of 13,000 feet and not have your main parachute not open, the fear of dying is itself bad enough to cause a heart attack.
Consider this case where a skydiver fell from a height of 13,000 feet, reserve chute opened pretty close to the ground but fell in a soft area that caused injuries but prevented the fatality that would normally happen from such a height (link to article):

His reserve parachute opened at the last moment on the horrifying descent at a festival in Moteuko, New Zealand, but it was still too late to prevent him suffering serious injury, the Daily Telegraph reported. Dunne, originally from St Annes, Lancashire, was treated at the scene by medics and taken to a specialist spinal unit in Christchurch where doctors have said he should walk again. Since the accident two weeks ago, he has astonished doctors with his recovery after undergoing surgery to insert metal pins into his shattered spine. Speaking from his hospital bed, Dunne said: "Those last 1,000 feet it was like 'here we go, this is it' . It wasn't nice. But that said, it was a one in a million accident and a one in a million save.

Weird news - woman credits her breasts with saving her life in a crash

While driving a car, there are numerous safety measures, such as the use of seat belts, as well as seat bags. The main purpose of all these safety measures is to ensure that the person in the car is not rocked when the accident happens, and stays away from deadly stuff inside the car such as the steering wheel, or the windshield.
But what happens when the air bags don't deploy ? In such cases, the chance of injury is much higher; so can you believe it when the enhanced breasts of a woman apparently saved her by keeping her ribs away from the steering wheel; after all, if you have a record-setting 38KKK bosom, then these can extend for some distance away from the body and save the ribs in the body from getting fractured (link to article):

A woman is crediting her record-setting 38KKK bosom for saving her life after she wrapped her car around a tree. Sheyla Hershey, of Houston, Tx., told Radar Online that she was driving to pick up her husband after a Super Bowl party when she lost control of her car and slammed into a tree.
She said the airbags in her Ford Mustang didn't go off — which could have meant serious injury for most people. But Hershey, who, according to her website, was named as having the largest augmented breasts by her native Brazil's equivalent of the Guiness Book of World Records, says she was saved by her silicone.

Weird news - A crash that caused $4 million in damages to expensive cars

Road crashes are caused by various reasons, such as bad weather, car malfunction, slippery roads, too much to drink, or other such causes. They can be fatal to people, but very rarely do you see a car crash measured in terms of the amount of damage caused to vehicles, especially expensive vehicles such as a Ferrari. However, this article is more about the total damage caused during an accident which involved very expensive cars - how often have you heard of an accident that caused more than $4 million in damage (link to article):

Eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini -- plus a Toyota Prius -- were among the vehicles involved in the crash, which witnesses said happened when a speeding car slid across a wet road surface. Television footage showed mangled Ferraris -- many of them racing red -- and debris spread over some 400 metres (yards) of the east-bound side of the Chugoku Expressway, the main trunk road in southern Honshu.
A pack of about 20 supercars was travelling in convoy on Sunday morning on a stretch of wet highway when the leading Ferrari slid into a guardrail, police said.
Those behind slammed on their brakes, but for many of them it was apparently too late.
"I've never seen such a thing," highway patrol lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told AFP by telephone. "Ferraris rarely travel in such large numbers."

Weird news - Man sucked into a plane engine at maintenance bay

Once in a while, you would have seen stories of how powerful a jet engine is, and in an occasional movie, you would see a fight between a hero and villain (typically in a plane) being terminated by somebody or something being sucked into the engine of the plane. You might wonder about whether such a thing really exists, and can people really be sucked into a plane engine.
You need to consider that a plane engine has so much power that it pushes out gases at such a high speed that it can propel a heavy plane at very high speeds. To this effect, it sucks in air from the front part of the engine, and this creates a powerful sucking force when the engine is at full operating speed (article).

SAFE Air did not detail how the man died but Fairfax Media said it was informed by sources that the man was sucked into the engine of a C-130 Hercules. The engine had been removed from the aircraft and was installed in the airline's testing bay.
The man had apparently walked into the testing bay while the engine was running, Fairfax reported.

Weird news - Couple crash into a church, blame their car navigation system

The use of satellite navigation systems for finding your way around when driving a car has increased tremendously. It is now perfectly acceptable to just know the destination, plug this address into the system, and then follow the voice commands given by the system. It works for a huge amount of cases and this success rate has contributed to the increased use of such technologies. However, there happen cases when the technology has led people into trouble; such as the case of lorry drivers who reached destinations different from where intended, or went the wrong way on 1 way streets. Consider this case when this couple claims that the car navigation system told them to turn right into the church instead of taking them the right way (could be that their system came under the control of the devil) (link to article):

The unnamed couple were driving in freezing conditions from Austria to France on Friday when the car's satnav said, "turn right", The Times reports.
The 76-year-old driver did as he was told, immediately smashing into a 19th Century chapel near Freundpolz, Bavaria. The prang is said to have caused £23,000 worth of damage.
A motorist who stopped to help claimed the confused man blamed the machine for the error. The stunned driver said: "It told me to turn this way, but I suddenly ran out of road."

Imagine shooting live bullets when fake ones were supposed to be used

This is the worst nightmare of most people in the defence services, especially during shows meant to showcase the abilities of the military. It is often necessary to stage events that are very realistic, such as the simulated saving of hostages from terrorists, fights with terrorists in urban landscapes, etc. In many such situations, the public can be very close by, having been already informed that the bullets being used are fake. Now imagine the panic and horror when these bullets are fired, but they are not fake, and are instead real ones. Such an incident happened recently in France, and resulted in punishments for many of the soldiers involved, including the moral-grounds resignation of the head of the French Army, General Bruno Cuche:

Paris: The head of France's army has resigned following a weekend shooting at a military show that injured 17 when real bullets were used instead of blanks, the French presidency said on Tuesday.
The defence minister, meanwhile, suspended the use of blank munitions at military shows for the public. Investigators are looking into Sunday's display of hostage-freeing techniques at the Laperrine military barracks in southern France. Most of those injured were civilians, and three were children.

This was apparently a mistake when the ammunition was being loaded; it however seems a clear case of negligence at the minimum since the concept of having live ammunition nearby when fake ammunition was supposed to be loaded (along with no cross-checking) seems a bit strange.

Dolphin dies after collision during an aerial stunt

In a freak accident, a dolphin died during a stunt at the famous Sea World amusement park in Orlando, Florida. During an aerial stunt, the dolphin collided with another dolphin that was also aerial, and the tragedy occurred.

A 30-year-old dolphin at Sea World has died after colliding with another dolphin while performing aerial tricks, the Orlando, Florida, amusement park said Monday.
The incident occurred about 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Discovery Cove area of the park, according to a statement by Sea World spokeswoman Becca Bides. The animals were in the center of the lagoon and not near guests, she said.

Dolphins are about the most intelligent of sea creatures, and are a great hit with people, so this makes this even more of a tragedy.

Woman killed on boat by a leaping ray

Many people might have read the accident from some time back when noted animal worker and TV personality Steve Irwin was killed when the barb from a ray pierced him and the poison killed him. However, this was when Steve was in the water, and his death was considered a freak accident. So what would you consider this case when a woman was hit by a flying ray (a ray that leaped out of the water), which caused her to hit the boat and kill her. Read on:

A woman on a boat died after a spotted eagle ray leaped from the water off the Florida Keys Thursday and struck her, officials said. The force of the blow pushed the woman backward and she died when she hit her head on the boat deck, officials said. "It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened."
The woman was seated or standing in the front of the boat as it traveled at about 25 mph out of a channel, Pino said. "The ray just actually popped up in front of the vessel," he said. "The father had not even a second to react. It was too late. It happened instantly and the woman fell backwards and, unfortunately, died as a result of the collision."

What a bad way to go, dying in a freakish accident that happens so rarely.

Woman found in car after car towed away

Mighty strange occurrence this. One day after a car had been towed away from the scene of an accident, the body of an elderly woman was found under the deployed air bag of the car. Rescue services had already been through the car, and her injured son had been picked from the car earlier, so it is all the more strange as to how she came to be missing:

The presence of the body of Shirley Lee Williams, 72, came to the attention of investigators Sunday after family members said two relatives were missing, not one.
"We conducted a follow-up to the tow yard, and we discovered the woman inside the vehicle," said police Officer Mike Lopez. "She was dead."
Doctors will investigate whether Williams died instantly or was alive when the car was towed away, an official said.

This incident could get much serious if it was found that she had not died during the accident, but was alive when the car was towed away; in that case, she could have been saved if she had been found.

Sinkhole in Guatemala

*GUATEMALA CITY**, **Guatemala* - A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed at least
two teenagers as it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced
the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City
neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and an
underground sewage flow from a ruptured main.

The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding
ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities
feared it could widen or others could open up.

Rescue operations were on hold until a firefighter, suspended from a cable,
could take video and photos above the hole and officials could use the
documentation to decide how to proceed.

The dead were identified as Irma and David Soyos, emergency spokesman Juan
Carlos Bolanos said. Their bodies were found near the sinkhole, floating in
a river of sewage.

Their father, Domingo, was still missing, according to disaster coordinator
Hugo Hernandez.

Wheelchair man gets long truck ride

Not as simple as it sounds. This was actually a pretty scary thing that scared a number of observers. Imagine if you will, a truck speeding down a highway, with a man in a wheelchair being pushed by the truck at high speed, with the man hanging on for dear life.
They moved along like this for some time, with the man in the wheelchair whizzing by at a high speed, but thankfully, after some time the truck pulled over and bystanders came and rescued the man. What probably saved the man in all this? The good quality of the wheelchair and the seat belt that kept him safely in the wheelchair. This actually happened:

A wheelchair user has been taken for a high-speed ride along a US highway after his handlebars became tangled up in the front grille of a lorry.
The driver was completely unaware that he had a new passenger, kept in his wheelchair by a seatbelt

Ghost ship: Nobody on board

A yacht was found in pretty good condition floating off the Australian coast. Rescuers found a ship floating silently 80 nautical miles off the northeast coast. Refer the CNN story.
The yacht seemed in pretty fine condition, the only problem being that one sail was in a shredded condition. Other than that, the engine of the yacht was running, food was on the table, a laptop was turned on, but of the crew members there was no sign.
A proper mystery as to what happened to the 3 crew members. The yacht had passed through an area where weather and sea conditions were rough, but they actually don't have any more clues. Rescuers are looking at the yacht's GPS records to figure out the past route of the yacht to see whether they can get any clues.

Man shot by pistol thrown in trash

A man in Kansas was helping unload trash and accidentally hit the trigger of a thrown short-barreled pistol. This caused the pistol to fire and hit his left hand. In addition to the pain felt by the man, the nearby witnesses heard the pop of the gun and saw blood on the man'es left hand.
This was a very unexpected thing, even in a gun rich country such as the United States. After all, a loaded gun in the trash is not something that you would ever expect to see. The gun was loose in the trash and covered with mud.
The common assumption in such a case is that this gun was disposed off after the commission of a crime. Detectives are investigating this possibility.

Baby in X-ray

In an accident, a woman put her 1-month grandson through an X-ray machine at the Los Angeles International Airport. This was obviously an accident, and I am sure that this would have happened due to the hustle and bustle at the X-ray machine where the woman would accidentally have put her baby on a tray.
In a sign that security workers are actually looking at the contents of the baggage, one of the X-ray personnel noticed the shape of a child on the carry-on baggage check and pulled the child out. Doctors determined that no harm done.

Stupid robber commits massive self-injury

In a weird incident, a kidnapper was, along with 2 accomplices, was trying to kidnap a youth. Well, so what is so weird about this ? The kidnapper, apparently learned all about how to use a gun, but not about gun safety. As a result, during the kidnapping, when he tried to put his gun back into his belt, the gun went off, and did his some considerable damage, hitting one of his testicles, ouch !! When his body instinctively reacted to such a shock, the gun went off again and hit his calf. At this point, the guy developed some sense and managed to reach hospital to get some treatment.
Good news, he got arrested by the police, although I do not as yet know whether he will face any charges of attempted suicide. Read the original story here. Read more about gun safety here.

Britain's unluckiest man does it again

In this article from The Register, can read about the world's unluckiest man exhibiting the reasons why he has won that title. It would be funny if it was not real and happening to some living human being.
John Lyne, from Britain, fell down a manhole and suffered serious injuries which will take a few months to repair. Now this can happen to anyone, but for something serious to happen to someone 16 times over is a bit too much.
John has been run over by a cart, fallen from a tree, hit twice by lightning, suffered numerous vehicle crashes and come close to drowing. He must have borrowed a few lives from neighbouring cats. And to make it even worse, his friends and family just laugh about it.

Worst states for auto-deer crashes

Deer-automobile crashes in the US are up 6% from last year. It is an increasing trend, and such accidents cause around 150 deaths and $1.1 billion in damage annually. Statistics for deer fatalities are not available, but these also will be significant. Deer populations have been increasing, and more important, humans are increasing moving into areas where such collisions are becoming more frequent.
The advise is to use high-beam headlights, be careful when seeing a 'Deer crossing' sign and if you see a deer, assume that there will be more of them somewhere close by. These deer are normally very peaceful creatures, so if you are a bit more careful, you will find that these accidents can be avoided.