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2008 April Slush
DA:Priest in balloon is blown to ocean
DA:Priest Visits boss
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DA:Sky Pilot Priest Balloon Bye Bye
Balcony jumper wanted to test himse
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DA:Look Before You Leak
ice diving instructor misses hole
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(DA)Intravenous Birdseed Man
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(?)Pedestrian Killed on Barlow Trail
DA:A Screw Loose...
(?)cutting up gas tank
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Beer, baseball, and an escalator
Crank it up a little Virgil
He wasn´t the Hulk...
No balls No brains
Huntingdon Man Shoots Himself in L
battered and bruised member
A "Hot" Idea.
Guns are not effective bee killers
Boys Will Be Boys
Man dies from mercury poisoning aft
In over his head...
Drunken Idiot Falls from moving SUV
A New Take on Car Surfing
Groin ... groin ... gone
Irish Bomb Expert
toasted Grenade
Possible Copper Theft Leads to Elec
Snakeskin Bracelet
Electrocuted stealing live wires
Man accidentally shoots self in che
DA:Off to Heaven
Teen sneaks out, plunges 11 floors
blasted dog
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Train hits man peeing on track
Police: Man dies in freak accident
Teens, Bonfire and Gas
Skateboarder Crashes into Bus
Banned for Life
A+B+C=almost DA idiocy.
Parrot rescue ends in disaster
Man runs himself over with U-Haul.
Caution: Flammable Material
See how fast I can go!
Jumping From Bridge To Train
Now promoted to higher position
Drunken Construction Worker Death
Thief burnt to death
Tree Ride Gone Wrong
Drunk Motorbike riding ends "split"
Man killed by 11,000 volts
man falls into mt st helens
I dare you to jump
Reach out and touch a tree
Fatal Boat Party Tragedy
Stuck for a 'pee'?
The Campout Pyro
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Detonator's Radio
Bubba's Electrical Service
Earth Day Gone Wrong
Man drowned after jumping into lake
Cuddling with the crocodiles
Blown Lung
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virginal birth - NOT
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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
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ice diving instructor misses hole

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

briefly stated; diving instructor teaches under- ice diving class in frozen Gull Lake,Ca.spring of 2007 (April or May) yes, lakes in ca. do freeze over, especially at 7600 ft.

After cutting a hole through 14" of ice the students partake in an extensive day-long course safety course taught by a competent instructor. diving under ice is very dangerous, the visabilty is extermly low, the water is frigid and there is only one way in or out. One of the most important safety lessons the students learn is that they must be tethered to the surface by a safety line so that they can find their way to the surface through the dimly lit waters. at the end of the day the instructor and one of the students decide to take one last dive.The student secures his safety line and jumps in with the instructor right behind .the only problem is the instuctor is not attached to a line himself, but hey, its the instructor ,he knows what he is doing. anyway, its going to be a quick dive because they don't have a lot of air left in their tanks. After a few minutes of diving the student gets low on air and signals to the instructor he is going out, he follows his safety line to hole in the ice and exits the lake thinking the instructor is following right behind. Nobody really knows what happened next.we assume that wihout a tether-line to follow the safety instructor seached unsucessfully for the hole until he ran out of air and suffocated.A horrible way to die, but possibly making himself a candidate for a Darwin Award. The instructor's body was found by rescue(recovery divers),all attached to safety lines, the following day .for more details and confirmation check Mammoth Times (Ca.) I think LA Times had a story on this also and possibly Reno Gazette

Submitted on 04/15/2008

Submitted by: chris jackson
Reference: mammoth times/LA Times March April or May 2007

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
When my brother went for his final certification dive in a lake in upstate NY the instructor didn't know how to properly anchor a boat. He first tried diving down to set it by hand but didn't have any luck (he had the line going almost vertically straight down from the boat) so he finally just tied it to a tree on the island they were near. Just another example that even idiots can become instructors. Thanks for the story, Chris.


James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
While I fail to see the recreational value of ice diving, all I can say is if you are going to do it at all, PLEASE do it SAFELY! Rather tragic, but such complacency will get you a DA EVERY time! Thanks, Chris!


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