Trucker Blows Up Like A Balloon!
A New Zealand trucker is lucky to be alive after blowing up like a human balloon because he fell butt-first onto a brass fitting for his truck's compressed air reservoir.
Steven McCormack was recovering in Whakatane Hospital Wednesday after the freak accident Saturday.
He was standing on the plate between the cab of his truck and its semi-trailer when his foot slipped and he fell, breaking the hose off a brass nipple connected to the compressed air reservoir that powers the truck's brakes, NZPA reported.
The nipple pierced the flesh of his left buttock.
"I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot," he told NZPA. "I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon."
Doctors told him the air separated fat from muscle, and were surprised it didn't break his skin. One of his lungs filled up with fluid.
McCormack's co-workers heard his screams and stopped the air flow before packing ice around his swelling neck while they waited for paramedics to arrive.
Geez, that would be pretty scary!!!
