I suppose I should have just put this in the famous 'Humor' thread....
A passenger on a French train had to be rescued by firemen after having his arm sucked down the on-board toilet.
The 26-year-old victim was trapped when he tried to fish out his mobile phone, which had fallen into the toilet bowl, and fell foul of the suction system.
The high-speed TGV train had to stop for two hours while firemen cut through the train's pipework.
The man was carried away by emergency services, with the toilet still attached to his arm.
"He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off," said Benoit Gigou, a witness to the man's plight.
The incident happened on Sunday evening, aboard a train travelling in western France from La Rochelle to Bordeaux.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7693386.stm
I'm not sure if (in the second-to-last paragraph) it was the arm or the toilet bowl which was sawed off.
LOL...I think I'd have just sacrificed the phone. Even if my arm didn't get stuck, I'm not sure I'd want to be reaching in there!
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Blub.....blub....blub..."Can you hear me now?"
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
CopCarSS LOL...I think I'd have just sacrificed the phone. Even if my arm didn't get stuck, I'm not sure I'd want to be reaching in there!
Plus, would you really want to use the phone afterwards? Jamie
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Murphy Siding Blub.....blub....blub..."Can you hear me now?"
I very nearly sent a mouthful of tea shooting into my monitor on that one, Murph!
Assuming he actually did retrieve his phone, I wonder what kind of explanation he would have given to his ear doctor for the nasty condition that he would have soon had in that area of his body...not to mention his manicurist!
Three things a plumbing always needs to remember:
1. Crud (not the original word) always flows down hill.
2. Payday is always on Friday
3. NEVER bite your finger nails!
zardozI'm not sure if (in the second-to-last paragraph) it was the arm or the toilet bowl which was sawed off.
I would guess (and hope) that they meant the toilet bowl...
This is classic!
Pasadena Sub CopCarSS LOL...I think I'd have just sacrificed the phone. Even if my arm didn't get stuck, I'm not sure I'd want to be reaching in there! Plus, would you really want to use the phone afterwards? Jamie
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
This isn't unheard of - I recall that a couple years ago the same thing happened to a passenger on an Amtrak or MetroNorth train (along the Hudson River is what my memory is telling me). For sure the cell phone went down there, and I'm pretty sure the person's arm or hand got stuck as well. That would be the only new thing here - that the suction was strong enough to do that.
A week or so ago the Wall Street Journal had an article about the various ways - both amatuer and professional - to dry out / clean up the cell phones / Blackberries, etc. after such incidents, to maximize the chance of a recovery. Apparently there are even several websites devoted to that. If I recall correctly, the professionally preferred method was to take it apart and rinse it in electronic contact cleaner (I accept no responsibility for anyone doing that, though). "You could look it up." (Casey Stengel or Yogi Berra, not sure which)
Finally, here's a topic for a contest: What should the warning sticker say ? This would be for the seemingly inevitable warning sticker that now may have to be applied to all such toilets, to attempt to prevent the same thing from happening again to an unwitting* passenger who might be tempted or desperate enough to try it.
*"unwitting" - an apt term for such a person, if ever there was one !
- Paul North.
I thought I'd read several years ago about something similar to this happening, possibly here in the U.S. (definitely not on a TGV). If he succeeded in saving his phone (probably not worth much if it was in a retention tank), he was probably flushed with success!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
I saw theese bathrooms when I was in france, and they were ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! I don't see how anyone would have the stomache to get anywhere near that bowl.......
RJ
"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling
http://sweetwater-photography.com/
It was the toilet bowl which had to be sawed off. My wife just asked who's gonna pay for all the damage done.
That's funny!!!...(sorry... but it is)...would be even funnier if his head got stuck in there...
Remember, this is France, where the majority think that their $&!# doesn't stink.
Headphones, anyone?
I wonder how many "anytime minutes" he used up!
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
rrnut282Remember, this is France, where the majority think that their $&!# doesn't stink.
OH..... They think it doesn't... but in fact is does very much so!
A really cheap guy walks into a large, multi-stall private car restroom on a Chicago-LA special in 1940. He walks up to use one of the urinals and sees a shiny dime in the bottom. Just then another passenger walks in and starts using the sink to freshen himself up.
The first guy keeps staring at that dime, transfixed. Finally, he reaches into his pants pocket, searches through his loose coinage, takes a look out of the corner of his eye to see if the other passenger is watching and drops a nickel and dime into the urinal.
"Well, now!" he snorts loudly, rolling up his sleeve. "There's NO way I'd stick my hand in there for 10 cents... but for a quarter...!"
I would not bother. I bet his reception will sound like crap now!
Paul_D_North_Jr This isn't unheard of - I recall that a couple years ago the same thing happened to a passenger on an Amtrak or MetroNorth train (along the Hudson River is what my memory is telling me). For sure the cell phone went down there, and I'm pretty sure the person's arm or hand got stuck as well.... - Paul North.
This isn't unheard of - I recall that a couple years ago the same thing happened to a passenger on an Amtrak or MetroNorth train (along the Hudson River is what my memory is telling me). For sure the cell phone went down there, and I'm pretty sure the person's arm or hand got stuck as well....
Yes, in fact I posted it into the Humor Thread, its on like page 57 or somewhere in there...
Somehow this seams appropriate here, from "Trainspotting":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XrvpEIiC1w
The Worst Toilet In Scotland
Have fun with your trains
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