freak accident

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Flying Umbrella Kills Woman on Virginia Beach

Lottie Belk died after wind-flung umbrella stabbed her in chest

(Newser) - A celebratory day at the beach turned to tragedy after a woman was killed Wednesday when a beach umbrella blew out of the sand and stabbed her in the chest, WHNT reports. WTKR IDs the woman as Lottie Michelle Belk (the station says she was 55; WHNT says she was...

Fire Ants Kill Woman Planning Mom's Funeral

Such a death is rare in Alabama

(Newser) - Kalyn Rolan's mother died on May 19. Less than 24 hours later, Rolan was dead, too. In what WSFA calls "a story so tragic, it's almost hard to believe," Rolan, 29, was in Selma, Ala., making funeral arrangements when she was attacked by fire ants as...

Carnival Horror: 11-Year-Old Scalped by Ride

Elizabeth Gilreath's hair was caught in King's Crown attraction at Neb. festival

(Newser) - "I can't believe the place is still open," Billie Bankus told KMTV Sunday as she stood holding a sign outside a Cinco de Mayo festival in Omaha, Neb., warning people of the dangers she said lurked inside the gates. Bankus was protesting on behalf of Elizabeth Gilreath,...

Motorcyclist Killed After Smashing Into Fridge

NJ cops trying to find who abandoned appliance on side of road

(Newser) - When winter turns to spring in New Jersey, there's always an uptick in the number of motorcycle crashes, with the two main reasons cited by state cops being "unsafe speed" and "driver inattention," NJ.com notes. Further down the list is "road/environmental factor," which...

Man Almost Drives Over Ledge, Then Gets Hit by Bus

He became 'disoriented' after first crash in Malibu, Calif.

(Newser) - A man in Malibu, Calif., was hospitalized Saturday after being involved in not one, but two car accidents along a road winding through the area's canyons, KABC reports. Per a Facebook post by the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, the driver—identified by the California Highway Patrol as Silviano...

Woman Dies in Bizarre Drive-Thru Accident

She was pinned by own car at coffee stand

(Newser) - A South Carolina woman died in the drive-thru lane of a coffee shop in what cops are calling a freak accident. From what investigators can piece together, 28-year-old Pamela Page was in the drive-thru lane at Biggby Coffee in Summerville when she opened her car door to pick up something...

Freak Basketball Accident Kills 16-Year-Old

Noah Lear initially thought he'd just knocked out some teeth

(Newser) - A game of pickup basketball turned tragic for a teen in Bucyrus, Ohio. Noah Lear, 16, was shooting hoops with three friends on Feb. 27 when he went to dunk the ball—and the support post, backboard, and rim fell and crushed the teen's head and neck. He was...

Boy Killed by Falling Rock on Impromptu Hike With Uncle

'This was a non-survivable injury'

(Newser) - Connor McLaughlin, 12, was driving with his uncle when the pair saw Roaring Brook Falls in New York's Adirondacks and decided to make an unplanned stop to hike in and get a closer look Sunday. Tragically, as the boy stood with his uncle Jesse Malone, 40, at the base...

Fall Kills Rodeo Queen, 27
 Fall Kills Rodeo Queen, 27 
Mar 4, 2016 4:32 PM CST

Fall Kills Rodeo Queen, 27

Lara Dewees leaves behind an 18-month-old son

(Newser) - A rodeo queen from Florida has died following an accident at a competition last month in Mississippi. The Tampa Tribune reports that Lara Dewees, who would have turned 28 on Monday, died from her injuries the day before her birthday. She was injured following a Feb. 20 competition at which...

86-Year-Old Killed by Device Intended to Save Her

She was strangled by her medical alert necklace

(Newser) - In what the Cumberland County, Penn., coroner is calling a "freak accident," an 86-year-old woman was strangled to death by a device that was intended to save her life. Roseann J. DiFrancesco apparently tripped and fell, causing her medical alert necklace to become caught on her walker, the...

CarMax Salesman Killed in Test Drive Gone Wrong

Witnesses say Corvette was going 70mph

(Newser) - It was just another test drive—a regular task in the daily routine of a used-car salesman. But for CarMax's Warren Smale, it turned out to be his last ride after a potential buyer crashed the red Corvette they were driving in Tuesday into a tree, killing the 43-year-old...

Teen Impaled by Giant Splinter in Basketball Game

Floorboard split apart in freak accident during Wisconsin middle-school tourney

(Newser) - Thirty-four teams of middle school basketball players were gathered at a Wisconsin tournament Sunday when a freak accident took place on the court, WDJT reports. "I don't know if we'll ever hear something like this ever happening again anywhere," says Perry Hibner, the tourney's organizer,...

Puppy's Collar Obliterates Part of Owner's Home

Puppy's collar got caught on gas valve, triggering explosion

(Newser) - For the gas explosion that nearly decimated a Gulfport, Miss., house on Wednesday, everything had to go exactly right—or, rather, exactly wrong. Per the local fire chief, the home's resident puppy got its collar stuck on an unused laundry-room gas valve (the same exact height as the pup'...

Twins Killed Sledding on Olympic Track Had Worked There

Jordan and Evan Caldwell were Hill Ambassadors

(Newser) - The twin 17-year-olds who died early Saturday after sneaking onto the bobsled track at Calgary's Canada Olympic Park and trying to sled down it once worked there, the CBC reports. Jordan and Evan Caldwell served "as Hill Ambassadors during last winter's season," per the CEO of...

Airline Worker Sucked Into Plane Engine

He was standing near plane's nose when pilot turned on engine

(Newser) - You can add being sucked into an airplane engine to the list of ways you'd rather not end up 6 feet under. Airport authorities are investigating the death of a 56-year-old Air India employee who met such a fate at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Wednesday, reports...

Whale-Watching Disaster Blamed on Freak Wave

Weather seemed calm, but rogue wave may have doomed Canada's Leviathan II

(Newser) - Canada's Transportation Safety Board thinks it knows how a whale-watching boat sank on Sunday, leaving five Brits dead and an Australian missing: a surprise wave, the Guardian reports. A survivor told one of the rescuers there was "this real big wave coming—bigger than the rest of the...

'Unbelievable': 4-Year-Old Left in Car Is Crushed by It

It was a freak accident, police in Tulsa, Okla., say

(Newser) - In an accident that was equal parts tragic and freakish, a 4-year-old boy left unattended in an SUV ended up being crushed to death by it. Police in Tulsa, Okla., say the bizarre accident happened when the mother left the boy and his two siblings in her Chevrolet Suburban while...

3 Young Sisters Killed in Freak Farming Accident

The girls were buried in canola seed on family farm

(Newser) - Three young sisters died Tuesday in a freak accident on a family farm in rural Canada, the Edmonton Journal reports. The girls—11-year-old twins Dara and Jana and 13-year-old Catie—were smothered by canola seed in the back of a truck, though the details of their deaths remain hazy. A...

WWII Tank Crushes Man at Jelly Belly Chief's Home

Herman Rowland's son-in-law had permission to drive tank

(Newser) - A 54-year-old man was killed after being run over by a World War II-era tank over the weekend, but he wasn't on any kind of battlefield. Kevin Wright was attending a family reunion at the Fairfield, Calif., home of Jelly Belly Chairman Herman Rowland Sr. on Saturday when he...

Teen Falls 120 Feet to Her Death at Camp

Olivia Paige Grimes became unhooked from a large pendulum swing

(Newser) - A Florida teenager died about 6pm Monday after falling out of a rope swing at a Christian camp on the South Carolina-North Carolina border. Olivia Paige Grimes, 16, of Lakeland, Florida, was part of a group participating in an event called the "Freebird" and was attached to a large...

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