Death comes sooner or later to everyone and everything. There are several causes of death: illness, old age, murder, and accidents. Although we know well how often people die, we are always shocked when we hear about someone's death or see someone die. Even if no death can be considered happy, some deaths are worse than others, especially those who could have avoided their fate literally by a thread. Here are some examples of people who died the most unfortunate deaths.
1. In 1985, a New Orleans man drowned at a pool party attended by more than 100 lifeguards celebrating a drowning-free summer.
A party thrown by city lifeguards at the New Orleans Recreation Center was to celebrate a summer without a single drowning—the first such event at the time. It took place in late July of that year, when most city recreation centers were closed. About 200 people attended the party, half of whom were lifeguards. After the party ended, four lifeguards cleaning the pool discovered the fully clothed body of 31-year-old Jerome Moody at the bottom of the deep end. (source)
2. In Arizona, a man died while trying to topple a 26-foot-tall saguaro cactus. A 500-pound branch of the cactus fell on him, crushing him to death.
In 1982, David Grundman and James Joseph Suchochi ventured into the desert two miles north of Highway 74 in Arizona, west of Lake Pleasant. First, Grundman shot a small saguaro cactus so many times that it fell to the ground. Then, he attacked a 26-foot-tall saguaro, estimated to be at least a century old, which resulted in its death. Saguaros live between 150 and 200 years, with some known to live up to 300 years. They grow up to 60 feet tall and can weigh up to eight tons (16,000 pounds). The cactus arm that fell on Grundman weighed 500 pounds. (1, 2)
3. A woman from Thailand accidentally slipped in the mud, grabbed a live wire, and died from an electric shock. That same day, her sister, while showing neighbors how it happened, slipped in the mud, grabbed the same live wire, and was also electrocuted.
In April 1991, in a rural area 60 miles north of Bangkok, 57-year-old Yuket Paen was walking through a farmyard when an accident occurred. Later that day, her 52-year-old sister, Yuket Pan, was showing neighbors how the accident happened and experienced the same events that led to her death. (source)
4. After a plane crash-landed in San Francisco, a 16-year-old girl survived but was struck and killed by one of the fire trucks from the rescue service.
On July 6, 2013, Ye Mengyuan was flying Asiana Airlines Flight 214 with a group of 35 teachers and students from Jiangshan, China, to California when the plane crashed. Following the plane's emergency landing and fire at San Francisco International Airport, Mengyuan was ejected from the cabin. She died from multiple blunt force trauma sustained when struck by one of the fire and rescue vehicles. At the time of the crash, she was lying on the ground, possibly covered in foam used to extinguish the fire on board the plane. (source)
5. Hearing a scream, a Florida man ran to his brother's bedroom and discovered the entire room, including his brother, had been swallowed by a 30-foot-deep crater. His body was never recovered.
In 2013, the bedroom of a 1970s-era single-story home in Seffner, Florida, a suburb of Tampa, collapsed into a sinkhole 20 to 30 feet in diameter and nearly 30 feet deep, taking a man named Jeff Bush with it. His brother, Jeremy Bush, attempted to save him by digging through the rubble until police arrived and pulled him out before the floor had completely collapsed. Rescuers were unable to enter the sinkhole because it was too dangerous. Although the operation began as a rescue, it soon escalated to a body search, as monitoring equipment detected no signs of living people. However, the body was never found. (source)
6. The man who survived fire and shipwreck in 1871 и suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder , died 41 years later when, finally overcoming his fears and nightmares, he set sail again on the Titanic.
Ramon Artagaveitia of Uruguay was one of 65 passengers who survived the ship's fire and sinking. «"America"» On December 24, 1871, with 164 people on board, he escaped by jumping off the ship and swimming. According to a letter he wrote to his cousin, Enrique Artagaveitia, he was plagued by nightmares, waking in the middle of the night to cries of "Fire! Fire! Fire!" Even during the most mundane of voyages, he would stand on deck in a life jacket out of fear.
On April 10, 1912, he boarded the« Titanic"» . In one of his letters, he expressed the feeling of confidence he felt thanks to the presence of a wireless telegraph on board. He believed that, unlike the time when no one could see their light signals during the crash, «America» , they could instantly communicate with the whole world. However, «Titanic» sank on April 15, 1912, and Artagaveitiya was one of the 1,500 who died. (source)
7. In 2002, during a fight, a man was thrown into an 18-foot-deep manhole. The tunnel contained hot water and steam over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, which literally incinerated him while he was still alive.
In December 2002, a man named Michael Wright, thinking his bartender friend Sean Doyle was harassing his girlfriend, got into a fight with him. According to witnesses, Wright then threw Doyle into an open manhole while he screamed, "No, don't break my legs!" The manhole was 18 feet deep, and unfortunately, a burst water main was pouring boiling water into it. Doyle struggled upward, screaming for help.
Because the temperature in the tunnel was at least 300 degrees Fahrenheit (148 degrees Celsius), paramedics were unable to descend to render aid for four hours. By the time they managed to pull him out, he was dead, and his body temperature was 125 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius). His skin had peeled off, and his internal organs were completely cooked. Since he had no head injuries or other injuries, it was assumed he was fully conscious when he was boiled alive. (source)
8. Three people were killed in a flight simulator in a building designed to provide flight safety at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas, when a real plane crashed into it.
Pilot Mark Goldstein, 53, was a retired air traffic controller recognized by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association for his efforts in aviation safety. He later became a contract pilot and was transporting the aircraft from Wichita to Mena, Arkansas, when the engine failed during takeoff. About 100 people were in the two-story Cessna Flight Safety Training Center at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita at the time of the accident. Three people who were in the flight simulator at the time were found dead, along with the pilot, whose body was found on the roof. (source)
9. In 1989, a convicted murderer who had escaped execution in the electric chair was electrocuted to death in a toilet when he bit through the wire while trying to connect headphones to a television.
In 1983, 22-year-old Michael Anderson Godwin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison at South Carolina's Central Correctional Institution. He had previously been given a death sentence by electrocution, but it was overturned on appeal. Six years later, he was sitting on the toilet, apparently trying to plug headphones into a television, when he severed the cord and died from electrocution. (source)
10. A Brazilian man died one night when, while he was sleeping next to his wife, a cow fell through the corrugated roof of their home and landed on him.
The cow is believed to have escaped from a neighboring farm, climbed a hill, and then onto a house located next to a steep hillside. The house's corrugated metal roof gave way under the weight of the 1.5-ton cow, which fell on 45-year-old João Maria de Souza. He was taken to the hospital with a broken leg but no other visible injuries. However, he died of internal bleeding while awaiting medical attention. (source)