Trapped man hacks off own arm with knife
Tuesday Nov 27 06:00 AEDT
By ninemsn staff
A US farmer hacked off his right arm with a pocket-knife after his hand became jammed in a machine and a fire began burning around him.
Sampson Parker told WIS-TV that his nightmare began when he noticed a piece of cornstalk wedged inside a rusty mechanical picker.
He lent in and tried to release the stalk but his hand became stuck in the device.
"I went up with my hand and the roller that takes the shucks off the corn had grabbed the glove and pulled my hand into the rollers," Parker said.
"The more I tried pulling my hand out, the farther up my hand went."
After around an hour being trapped on his knees, and with no sign of anyone hearing his screams for help, his arm began to get numb.
Using a rod to jam the machine, Mr Parker began to cut his arm out of the machine using his John Deere pocket-knife.
But before he was able to finish the job, the rod caused the machine to spark, and a fire began burning around him.
Mr Parker began using his left hand to try and fight back the flames which were spreading out across the grass around him.
"My skin was melting. It was dripping off my arm like plastic, plastic melting. I realised I was in trouble," he said.
Then, he said, he picked up the knife and began slicing his arm off.
"And I just jammed it into my arm, just like that, just started cutting away from the bone -- just dropped," he said.
Suffering bad burns and a loss of blood, the man managed to make his way to the road in front of his home and signalled down a passing fire-fighter.
"My biggest fear was this guy is going to die on me right here and there's nothing else I can do, other than what I've done," firefighter Doug Spinks said.
"I'm just thankful I was there."
