Hanoi (dpa) - A man died in Hanoi Monday after he placed a detonator in his mouth and it exploded, a local officer said Wednesday.

Nguyen Van Hao, 21, died while trying to prove to his friends that the detonator could not explode, said Nguyen Van Ngu, a police officer of Tu Liem district where the incident happened.

``On Monday night, after drinking with five others at a friend's house, Hao picked a quarrel with one of his friends, after Huy showed the group a small detonator he had acquired,'' the policeman said. ``Hao insisted that the detonator could not explode as it looked too old and rusty.''

The detonator was six centimetres long with a diameter of 0.8 centimetres and had two electrical wires at one end.

``In order to prove it couldnt explode, Hao put the detonator in his mouth and asked his friend Huy to connect its negative and positive poles with a 220V socket in the house,'' he said.

``The explosion blew out his cheek and smashed all his teeth,'' the policeman said. ``He died right after he was admitted to hospital.''

Police are unsure how the man acquired the device. dpa bb jh

Submitted on 03/09/2005

Submitted by: James Gomez
Reference: Deutsche Presse Agentur

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Daniel said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I like this one. Even if it hadn't gone off, 220 volt 50 hertz house current might well have done the job.

Charles said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I have direct experience with 220v house current, and connecting that to a rusty metal thing in the mouth would be fatal enough, even without the explosive angle. Call this guy stupid twice...