Accidental Deaths You Won't Believe

Woman gets smashed by huge Taco Bell sign

Diana Durre, of Chambers, Nebraska, died after a 75-foot (23 m) Taco Bell sign fell on top of the truck cab she was in. The pole broke at a welded joint about 15 feet (4.5 m) above the ground owing to strong winds. The sign fell right on top of the quad-cab pickup. Diana was meeting a Wyoming couple to sell them some dogs. They had agreed to meet in North Platte, Nebraska, at about 1 p.m., “right underneath the big Taco Bell sign.” North Platte's Animal Control Division took two Yorkie dogs to the shelter. The Wyoming couple showed up after the accident.

Man dies crushed by a suicidal woman

A suicidal woman who jumped from an eighth floor window crushed a passer-by to death in a horrific accident. The woman hurled herself from the balcony in Viladecans, near Barcelona, and landed on top of a 50-year-old pedestrian who was walking below. The jumper died instantly, and the man, from the Ukraine, died in hospital shortly afterwards from his injuries. His wife, who was walking with him at the time, escaped with minor injuries in the incident, which happened at 5.45 on a Monday evening.

A lawyer, demonstrating the safety of windows in a skyscraper, crashed through a pane and plunged to his death

Garry Hoy, a 38-year old lawyer and a senior partner at the Holden Day Wilson Law firm in Toronto, Canada, fell to his death on July 9, 1993, after he threw himself against a window on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre, in an attempt to prove that the glass was "unbreakable" to a group of visiting law students. He had apparently attempted this stunt many times in the past, having previously bounced harmlessly off the glass. His first attempt failed to damage the glass at all. On his second attempt the glass still didn't break but instead actually popped out of the window frame, and he fell over 300 feet to his death.

Man dies after falling into vat of Hershey's chocolate

In a scene straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but with grim real life consequences, Vincent Smith II, an employee at the Cocoa Services Inc. chocolate factory in Camden, New Jersey, had a fatal accident. He was loading chunks of raw chocolate, when he slipped and fell into a large melting tank filled with 50 C (120F) Hershey's chocolate, and was knocked out by one of the mixing paddles. Smith was trapped in the melting tank for 10 minutes before rescuers were able to extract him. He was declared dead a short time later.

Naked man dies suffocated in condom

A thrill-seeker trying to give himself a sexual high killed himself by pulling a condom over his head, an inquest has heard. Gary Ashbrook, 31, was discovered naked on his bed alongside three empty cans of nitrous oxide he used to blow up the contraceptive. A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Ashbrook, who had been HIV positive for seven years, died from asphyxiation.

Roller Coaster Operator, caught by hair, gets scalped and killed

In 2003, an American amusement park operator was killed when his hair and arm got caught on a roller coaster car, pulling him up as high as 12 metres before he fell, back-first, onto a fence. Doug McKay, 40, was spraying lubricant on the tracks of the Super Loop 2, a ride at the Island County Fair on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, when his long hair got caught on a car full of fairgoers. It basically scalped him, then he fell and landed on the fence.

Man dies after bee attack at his wife's funeral

Jaam Singh Girdhan Barela, a 50-year-old man, died after being stung by a swarm of honeybees while he was cremating his wife in a Madhya Pradesh village. The bees were disturbed after flames from the funeral pyre enveloped their nest in Naya Bilwa village in Khargone district, 330 km from there. While others fled, Barela could not, as he was performing the rituals. He died following multiple stings.

An entire soccer team dies after being struck by a lighting during a match

During a game between Bena Tshadi and visitors Basanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all 11 members of a football team were killed by a bolt of lightning which left the other team unhurt. Thirty other people received burns at the match. The two sides were drawing 1-1 in the match in eastern Kasai Province when the lightning struck the visiting team. The athletes from the home team curiously came out of the catastrophe unscathed.

Teenager girl dies after getting hit by a hockey puck

Brittanie Cecil, an American 13-year-old hockey fan, died two days after being struck in the head by a hockey puck shot by Espen Knutsen at a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 16, 2002. It was the first fan fatality in the NHL's history. A shot by the Blue Jackets' Espen Knutsen was deflected by the Flames' Derek Morris and went over the glass behind the net, striking her in the left temple. She died nearly 48 hours after being struck.

Stewardess was sucked out of a plane after decompression

On Aloha Airlines Flight 243, flight attendant C.B. Lansing was sucked out of an airliner when the bulkhead tore off in mid flight. On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-297 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport, on Maui. The only fatality was the chief flight attendant, Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, who was standing at seat row 5 collecting drink cups from passengers. She was sucked through a hole in the side of the airplane. Another 65 passengers and crew were injured. The safe landing of the aircraft with such a major loss of integrity was unprecedented and remains unsurpassed.

Italian stripper suffocates to death inside surprise cake

In Consenza, Italy, stag party friends were curious when a stripper failed to jump out of a huge cake. Assuming she was no longer in there, they received a nasty surprise when they found her dead inside it. Gina Lalapola, 23, had suffocated after waiting for an hour inside the sealed cake.

Man dies after his ambulance stretcher rolled down

In 1991, Edward Juchniewicz, a 76-year-old man, was killed when the ambulance stretcher he was strapped to rolled down a grade and overturned. The ambulance attendants, while speaking to a doctor's staff, had left the stretcher unattended. Juchniewicz suffered a head injury and died a short time later. He was being transported from a nursing home to a doctor's office for an appointment.