freak accident

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Their Families at Church, They Played in the Snow. Then, Tragedy

12-year-old Esther Jung died outside Chicago after snow fort collapsed on her

(Newser) - A 12-year-old girl has died after a snow fort collapsed while she was playing outside a church in suburban Chicago. Arlington Heights police are calling the death a "tragic accident," the AP reports. Police say the girl, Esther Jung, was playing with a 9-year-old girl in the snow...

Woman Dies After Getting Caught in Clothing 'Death Trap'

She's at least the 8th fatality in Canada in 4 years to become trapped in donation bin

(Newser) - A woman in Toronto died after she became stuck in a clothing donations bin, reports NBC News . Police don't suspect foul play. The unidentified woman, found early Tuesday morning, apparently reached in too far, either to put in or pull out clothes, and could not get back out. Her...

Men in a Golf Cart Tried to Cross a River. Their Wives Hit Them

Tragic drowning of tourists in Thailand

(Newser) - A Christmas Day outing at a Thai golf course ended in tragedy for two South Korean tourists who were visiting with their wives. The BBC reports that 76-year-old Jaseoong Ha and 68-year-old Jun Yong Sung drowned in a freak accident Tuesday as they tried to cross the Nan River in...

Monkey Snatches Infant From Breastfeeding Mom, Kills Him

Awful news out of India

(Newser) - Locals say Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, has seen an uptick in monkey attacks, and a recent mauling is a most tragic one. The BBC reports a 12-day-old infant has died after a monkey yanked him from his mother's arms while she was breastfeeding him in her home...

On NYC Subway, a 'Tragic End to the Everyday Jostle'

Man who fled from Nazis in Austria dies after being pushed to ground by rushing fellow commuter

(Newser) - The New York Times calls Dr. Kurt Salzinger's death "a tragic end to the everyday jostle of straphangers," which the New York Post paints as "a daily underground hazard." His stepdaughter calls it "a complete disregard for the elderly," per the Times. Salzinger...

Man Looking for Phone Crushed by Trash Compactor

'He's very lucky to be alive,' friend says

(Newser) - A Denver man is badly injured but lucky to be alive after falling into a weight-activated trash compactor while trying to retrieve a friend's phone. Scott Walsh, 22, tried to help his friend after her phone fell into a trash chute at an apartment complex Friday night. He fell...

Grape-Harvesting Accident Claims Napa Worker's Life

Leon Marcelo Lua was 49

(Newser) - A grim work-related death out of California's Wine Country, where a Napa man working at Beaucanon Winery's Deconinck Vineyards got pulled into a grape harvesting machine with fatal results. KTVU identifies the victim as Leon Marcelo Lua, 49. The San Francisco Chronicle reports his clothing got caught in...

Groom-to-Be Dies on Bachelor Party Cruise

Christopher McGrory's fiancee describes a 'broken heart'

(Newser) - With less than two months to go until his wedding, Florida's Christopher McGrory boarded Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line's Grand Classica ship planning to celebrate his last days as a bachelor. But the party was short-lived, per the Palm Beach Post . In what his fiancee calls "a tragic...

Child Climbing Park Fence Fatally Electrocuted

The fence was apparently electrified by an underground wire

(Newser) - A 12-year-old was killed and two other boys were injured after a chain link fence electrified by a live underground wire electrocuted them at a city park in Georgia. During football practice at Fleming park in Augusta on Monday, Melquan Robinson hopped a fence to retrieve a ball, WRDW reports,...

Bowling Alley Owner Killed in Freak Work Accident

Ector Rodriguez described as beloved Florence, Colo., business owner

(Newser) - Florence, Colorado's police chief describes the local bowling alley as "almost like a barbershop"—a place outside of which owner Ector Rodriguez was widely known for sitting on a bench and chatting with locals who passed by. The community is now mourning the 65-year-old, who lost his...

4 Days After Wedding, She Was Paralyzed on Honeymoon

New bride was slammed into the ground by a big wave

(Newser) - A Texas woman's destination wedding and dream honeymoon turned into a nightmare when a wave threw Nikki Lewis to the ground while she was boogie boarding with her new husband, just four days after they wed on the beach in Maui. The Sept. 12 accident broke the 34-year-old's...

Girl, 3, Likely Killed by Tablet She Was Using in Car

Experts say tragedy is extremely rare

(Newser) - Horror in Spain, where a 3-year-old girl was killed when her mother's car slammed into the back of a school bus and an unsecured tablet the child was using flew into her face. The girl's cause of death has not yet been confirmed, but police say the tablet...

Man Cuts Off Own Hand in His Garage to Save His Life

'When I cut off my arm, I could feel my nerves jumping,' says Myron Schlafman

(Newser) - It took one man days to decide to cut off his own arm in order to save his life. It took Myron Schlafman just moments. The 69-year-old Jamestown, North Dakota, man was making sausage in his garage on Aug. 17 using an electric meat mixer. The AP reports that as...

Allman Brothers' Dicky Betts Has Emergency Brain Surgery

Manager says it was a success and thanks fans

(Newser) - Dicky Betts had been on the mend from a "minor stroke" he suffered in August, and just one week ago the Allman Brothers Band guitarist was said to be "raring to go" in preparations for upcoming November shows, per a message his manager posted on Facebook . But a...

Party Takes Tragic Turn as Teen Tries to Get Phone

Imogen Roche fell 5 stories off a Manhattan fire escape

(Newser) - A party in Manhattan turned tragic Sunday night when a 15-year-old girl fell five stories to her death from a fire escape. Authorities say Imogen Roche was trying to get into a locked room through a window of a Tribeca apartment to retrieve her cellphone around 11pm when she slipped...

Art Exhibit Made to Look Like 'Endless Chasm' Claims Victim

Luckily, visitor who got too close to Anish Kapoor's 8-foot-deep hole at Portugal museum will be OK

(Newser) - The "dizzying experience" of peering down into an "endless chasm in space" made a visitor to Portugal's Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art especially woozy, reports Artnet , and now the 60-year-old man is recuperating from his injuries. Last week, the Italian in Porto was checking out Chicago "...

2 Brothers Went to Rev Up a Sauna. They Were Found Dead

Police in Finland believe the men were electrocuted after a nearby lightning strike

(Newser) - Finnish police say they suspect two men died from a lightning strike's electric charge while they were heating up a sauna near a summer cottage in eastern Finland. The brothers, born in 1950 and 1953, had arrived at the cottage in Juuka, a community of 3,200 in the...

He Was Driving to Work in NYC. Then a Tire Came Flying

NYPD maintenance worker Robert Martinez, 64, killed in freak accident on Brooklyn expressway

(Newser) - An early morning commute to his maintenance job at NYPD headquarters ended in tragedy for a Staten Island man Wednesday. Police tell ABC News that 64-year-old Robert Martinez was driving his 2003 Chevy Tracker east around 6:30am along the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn when the unexpected and unthinkable happened:...

She Tried for a Pic of a Famous Steam Train. She Lost Her Life

Woman dies in Denver after getting too close to tracks where Locomotive 844 was rolling in

(Newser) - A woman who was taking photographs over the weekend of a steam locomotive was struck and killed after getting too close to the tracks in north suburban Denver. The Union Pacific locomotive—the AP says it was a 15-car train; the Denver Channel says it had 21 cars—was returning...

Beachgoer Pierced in Chest by Windswept Beach Umbrella

Someone apparently left a rental umbrella unattended

(Newser) - In yet another example of the dangers of beach umbrellas , a woman was pierced in the chest by one in Ocean City, Md., on Sunday afternoon. Police say someone left a rental umbrella unattended without returning it to the stand, and the wooden pole ended up piercing the skin of...

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