Thursday, August 25, 2011

Worker ballooned after high-pressure air hose 'accidentally lodged in his backside'

An electrician told yesterday how he almost died when his body was ‘inflated’ by a compressed air hose which went up his backside at work.

Gareth Durrant, 26, said he felt like he had been ‘blown up’ as the air- carrying 300lbs per square inch- entered his body in a freak factory accident.

He underwent emergency surgery and more than a year after the accident he is still suffering from the long term effects of his injuries and the trauma.


Mr Durrant was working at Willerby Holiday Homes in Hull – a manufacturer of static caravans – when the incident occurred in July last year.

Pressurised air lines hang from the ceiling and are used to connect to power tools on the production line.

He was wearing shorts and somehow one of these lines went into his bottom, ripping his clothing and sending air rushing inside his body.

Two colleagues were working next to him at the time and it is not known how the air hose came to be attached to him.

Mr Durrant, of Hull, said: ‘I was reaching up to finish the wiring on a caravan at the factory. I knew this air hose was being used close behind me but I just carried on the job as normal.

‘The next thing I knew I felt this strong air being blown on my legs from behind, and then something went up my rectum through the shorts I was wearing.

‘It felt like I had been blown up, it was the biggest shock of my life. There was air fizzing around inside my back passage and stomach, it was so weird.

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