re: #295 ozbloke

From the strange but true file:

Truckie ‘blew up like balloon’ in freak accident

A New Zealand truck driver who inflated “like a balloon” when he fell buttocks-first onto a compressed air nozzle was described as lucky to be alive, a New Zealand newspaper reports.

Steven McCormack was working on his truck at Opotiki on the North Island on Saturday when he slipped between the cab and the trailer, dislodging the compressed air hose that feeds the brakes, the Whakatane Beacon reported.

It said the brass fitting that the hose had been attached to pierced Mr McCormack’s left buttock in the fall, sending compressed air rushing into his body.

The 48-year-old said he felt as if he was going to explode and began to scream as his neck, feet and hands swelled up.

“I was blowing up like a football… it felt like I had the bends, like in diving. I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon,” he told the newspaper.

Workmates rushed to Mr McCormack’s aid, turning off the compressed air and packing ice around his swollen neck.

More…

More proof that what is funny in the cartoons is not necessarily funny in real life.