Boiler Explodes - Flies Over 6 Story Building - Lands On Man - Kills Him

[matcom]

<snip>

BEIJING (Reuters) - A boiler that exploded at a Chinese sauna sailed over a six-story building and landed on an old man crossing the road, Xinhua news agency said.

The 63-year-old pedestrian was killed instantly and three people injured in Sunday's bizarre accident in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, Xinhua quoted local police as saying.

"A passerby tried to escape when he saw the large object flying toward him, but he was hurt in his leg," Xinhua said. "Two workers in a restaurant next to the bathhouse were also injured after a wall of the restaurant collapsed."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=1&u=/nm/20040913/od_nm/china_boiler_dc

[htuttle]

1. Damn. What do you suppose the odds of THAT happening are?

:spank:

[GOPisEvil]

2. I'll never bitch about having a bad day again.

As bad as my Saturday was, a boiler didn't fall out of the sky and on to my head.

[matcom]

4. little different than locking your keys in your car

:7

[GOPisEvil]

5. Cleaning out the congealed smoothie STILL sucked though.

x(

[matcom]

6. you SURE that was "smoothie-spuge"?

:7

[GOPisEvil]

8. It sure wasn't MINE!!!

:P

[YellowRubberDuckie]

3. Was the 63 year old pedestrian Elmer Fudd?

It's not funny the old dude died. But that was a very cartoon death.
Duckie

[matcom]

7. i just gotta

:kick:

[Endangered Specie]

9. Wonder how many times that poor guy's been struck by lightning?

If luck is genetic, his family should NEVER play the lottery.

[DS1]

10. Mysterious Sauna Cork Bandit Strikes Again!

:bounce:

[Beetwasher]

11. It's A Bird! It's A Plane!

Able to leap tall building's in a single bound!

Ok, I know I'm going to hell now for joking about this...

[kanrok]

12. It could only happen in Beijing

Can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone. It stands to reason that someone would get squashed by a flying boiler.

[VOX]

13. You work hard all your life, make sacrifices, don't have too much fun,

scrimp here and there to save up a little, mind your health, do all the right things for the kids, put up with all kinds of crap on the job, pray that your pension and Social Security will hold out a few years longer, finally begin to play a respectable round of golf...

And then, a formerly airborne boiler descends from the sky and squashes you into a puddle. Game over.

Moral: Live your years as if they were "golden" right now! You never know! :toast:

[BiggJawn]

14. Read what happened when an AT&SF 2-6-2 let go in 1951...

This was a 272,400 pound engine sitting in the roundhouse that got too low on water, reulting in a crownsheet failure.


The force of the explosion tore the boiler from the frame and hurled it through the roof of the enginehouse and forward. The boiler in its flight cleared power lines 32 feet above the ground and 95 feet forward and alighted in reversed position on its right side and back head, striking the ground 119 feet forward of the point of the explosion and making a depression 4 feet in depth and 12 feet in diameter.

Sixty-one rivets in the connection seam at the smokebox, 5 machine fit bolts in each of the expansion pads at front corners of the mud ring and 12 machine fit bolts in the furnace bearer sheet at the back end of the firebox were sheared. Both steam pipes broke at the flanges to the superheater header and the left steam pipe broke at the bottom end. The superheater header broke through the neck at the boiler flanged joint connection and the header, with the superheater units attached, was hurled from the boiler and came to rest on the floor of the enginehouse beside the tender right gangway step. The draft pan was blown down on the frame and trailing truck axle, pulling the studs from the mud ring. The cab was blown through the roof of the enginehouse and demolished, the greater part of its wreckage coming to rest in the turntable pit 144 feet to the rear of the point of the explosion.

The left locomotive frame was broken between the trailing truck and No. 3 pedestal; through the top rail between Nos. 2 and 3 pedestals and through the rear of No. 2 pedestal, loosening the binder and thus separating the frame in three sections. The right locomotive frame was broken between the trailing truck and No. 3 pedestal; over No. 2 driving box, the binder, shoe and wedge of which were blown into the pit, also separating the frame in three sections.

The right guide yoke outside swing brace was bent, the inside swing brace broken, and the bracket pulled from the boiler, shearing seven 1-inch studs. The left guide yoke inside and outside swing braces broke at the bottom ends. The bracket was separated from the boiler, shearing seven 1-inch studs, when the boiler struck the ground.

The front end door hinges were broken and the buckled door was blown from under the lugs. The front end door ring was blown open; 40 3/4-inch bolts sheared, but the Okadee hinges held. Various parts and appurtenances blown from the locomotive were scattered within a radius of 581 feet from the point of the explosion.