Darwin says, "Accepted into the Archive."

http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/4337460.Man_dies_while_demolishing_shed_in_Burton_Green__York/

It appears that this chap 'was attempting to knock down a large brick outbuilding' single handed. He succeeded admirably, but with the unintended consequence that he took himself with it. The story further reports that the victim 'was understood to have been alone at his property at the time of the incident'. One has to query the wisdom of attempting to single-handedly demolish a large building topped by a concrete slab, almost certainly weighing several tons, with no-one else on hand to call for help in the event of an accident...

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Man dies while demolishing shed in Burton Green, York 5:21pm Friday 1st May 2009 By Jennifer Bell

TRAGEDY hit a York community when a DIY demolition project went wrong and claimed the life of a father-of-three.

The 41-year-old man was attempting to knock down a large brick outbuilding in the back garden of his Burton Green property, in Clifton, when it collapsed and trapped him under a pile of concrete rubble. His neighbour witnessed the accident, which happened at midday yesterday, and raised the alarm with the emergency services.

But paramedics later pronounced the man dead at the scene. Shocked residents in the neighbourhood were today still trying to come to terms with the news.

Speaking to The Press, a neighbour told how he had lived next door to the man for a number of years and described the accident as unspeakable .

He described him as a married father-of-three, but said he did not want to comment further out of respect for the family. The man has not been officially named by police.

Firefighters, police and paramedics attended the incident, which happened at about 11.50am.

John Swires, the North Yorkshire fire service's group manager for York, said the man had been demolishing the outbuilding when it collapsed on top of him.

He There was a large concrete slab on the roof of the building that the man was working on. When the building caved, in the slab hit the man and pinned him to the floor, trapping

Mr Swires said firefighters had used hydraulic rams and high-pressure air bags to release part of the roof to allow paramedics to get to the Unfortunately he was pronounced dead at the Mr Swires said. The man was understood to have been alone at his property at the time of the incident.

North Yorkshire Police, who were alerted to the accident by s ambulance service, cordoned off the area close to Burton Green Infant School while investigations were carried out. Yorkscene,man.

him.said: tragedyan

Submitted on 05/01/2009

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: York Evening Press (York, England), 1 May 2009

Copyright © 2009 DarwinAwards.com

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Demolishing anything larger than a garden shed by oneself should cause one to have second thoughts! I know we've had a few of these in the past, but I don't think they're getting too common yet. Thanks!

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Given the heavy equipment the the firefighters needed to rescue this guy I certainly think he's worthy of an award. Concrete & bricks aren't light! Thanks.

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