One of the assistants to magician David Copperfield was severely injured when he walked into an industrial fan used in Copperfield’s Las Vegas stage show.
“During an illusion where David attempts to walk through the rotating blades of a 12-foot high industrial fan, the fan and its platform were being rotated by one of David’s illusion technicians,” said a Copperfield representative. “Just prior to David himself walking through the fan, [the assistant] was accidentally pulled into the vortex of the moving fan blades, causing injury to his arm and face.”
The assistant required extensive surgery to his arm and face. An audience member reported that “blood was everywhere, and the other assistants dragged the victim back.”
Read more at US Magazine
Wang Diange, a Chinese man from Inner Mongolia, was apparently struck by lightning and killed. As his corpse was loaded into a cremation chamber, his body literally exploded, blowing the doors off the oven and causing a fire.
After the extensive fire was extinguished, the only clue remaining was a small twisted piece of metal that resembled a screw. At first, investigators were unable to determine what it was, though they found it was engraved with a military serial number. After a lengthy investigation, they discovered that the local weather bureau had been firing shells into the atmosphere to break up hail and protect the local tobacco crop on the day Wang died.
Investigators concluded that one shell must have failed to explode, hit Wang’s house and lodged in his body. The shell was never discovered because of Wang’s extensive injuries. When Wang’s body was loaded into the crematorium oven, the heat caused the shell to explode. As a result, Wang’s family received 80,000 yuan ($11,700) in compensation from the weather bureau.
An Austrian actor portraying a suicide in a play accidentally slashed his own throat on-stage after a prop mix-up.
Daniel Hoevels, 30, collapsed with blood pouring from his neck after he used a real blade instead of the dull stage knife. He was rushed to the hospital after the scene at Vienna’s Burgtheater.
The audience was unaware the actor was facing his own death until he failed to return for their applause.
Police are investigating whether the mix-up was really attempted murder. The knife was purchased at a local store and still had the price tag.
Hoevels recovered after emergency treatment and appeared on stage the next night with a bandage around his neck. “If Hoevels had hit an artery or cut only slightly deeper, he would have died on stage,” a doctor said.
More at SkyNews
Scott Napper, 45, and Leafil Alforque, 22, have been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005. Alforque arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before. Napper wanted to marry Alforque, so he decided to pop the question at Proposal Rock, a popular destination on Oregon’s Pacific coast for couples ready to marry.
But the romantic marriage proposal turned deadly when a rogue wave swept the bride-to-be out to sea. “I turned into [the wave] to keep from getting pulled under it,” Napper said. By the time he recovered from the icy dunking, he discovered that the 4′11″ 93-pound Alforque was caught in the receding waters and being carried away from shore.
Napper tore off his jacket to get rid of extra weight, and when he looked up again, Alforque was gone. “That’s the last I saw of her,” Napper said in an interview while breaking into tears.
Witnesses called 911, and emergency crews arrived within minutes. Napper’s cell phone was soaked from the wave and no longer working. Napper and the rescuers searched futilely. “I yelled for her,” he said. “I was praying to God.” Thick fog and choppy water hampered the rescue operation before the search was finally suspended. Police don’t suspect foul play.
More at KATU.com
A grieving widow in Brazil was killed by her husband’s casket while she was on her way to bury him. Another vehicle hit the hearse in which 67-year-old Marciana Silva Barcelos was traveling while en route to the cemetery. The vehicle hit the hearse from behind, causing the casket to slam into Barcelos’ head, killing her instantly. Her husband, Jose Silveira Coimbra, 76, had died of a heart attack the night before while at a dance.
In spite of all our differences, the one thing that binds all living creatures is that we each have an expiration date. This finality to our existence is what makes life special, something to be cherished and protected. But occasionally things can go terribly wrong…
