U.S. News Accidents That Freaked Us Out This Summer From the woman who lost her leg in a cab accident to the man who was electrocuted after peeing on a Brooklyn subway rail, The Daily Beast rounds up the most senseless accidents of the summer. Published Aug. 22 2013 11:29AM EDT
It's been a cruel summer in some ways, with senseless accidents that have left us all a bit shaken. As these freak occurrences show, one never knows when one's number is up. See some of the most malignant examples of fate that struck this year.
We all have our own taxi horror stories, but this one beats them all. A 23-year-old woman lost her leg after a taxi jumped a curb in Midtown Manhattan. One good samaritan put the woman’s severed leg in a cooler while waiting for an emergency vehicle. Dr. Oz was there, too.
Mary Altaffer/AP
While on a first date, a promising young media executive fell to her death from the balcony of her 17th floor New York City apartment. She was reportedly smoking on a cigarette before the railing broke, and was said to have just gone out on a first date before the shocking fall.
Debbie Egan-Chin /New York Daily News/Getty
Two young boys in Canada were sleeping over at a friend's apartment when the unthinkable happened: until a 100-pound snake owned by their friend's dad escaped out of his cage and killed the brothers in the middle of the night. Details of the deaths are still unclear, and some reptile experts remain baffled. The snake was killed.
David Smith/Reuters
Shark attacks do happen, and they are terrifying. While snorkeling off the Hawaiian islands of Maui, a woman around 20 years old was attacked by a shark and ultimately died. The fatality rate of a shark attack in the United States is just two percent.
AP
While relieving himself on the third rail of the G train in Brooklyn, a man was electrocuted . Fortunately he survived, and we will all think twice next time we're taking the train home late at night.
Mark Lennihan/AP
A woman died after participating in an egg eating contest in a pub in England. While drinking, she had eaten up to five eggs and ultimately died from a lack of oxygen to her brain.
Jean-Christophe Riou/Corbis
At nearly six in the morning in Western Pennsylvania, a man on a motorcycle collided with an elk and died. No word on if the elk survived.
Niall Benvie/Corbis
While barbecuing in upstate New York, a teenage boy, who had been experiencing fatigue for two weeks, collapsed and died. Doctors now believe he died of a Powassan encephalitis transmitted through a tick bite.
David Scharf/Science Faction/Corbis
A nine-year-old girl in Utah was playing with her friends on a trampoline when the wind caused it to fly more than 50 feet into the air. She was taken to the hospital with several injuries and later died.
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