Dad, son drown in pit of manure (CA)
 

Wow, what a crappy way to go! :(

Dante's 8th Circle of Hell in action.

Damn. I hate reading about shit like this.(sorry) Seems like there should have been a cover of some kind over that shithole.

Yeah... that is a shitty way to go for sure... no pun intended.

But, OMG... how bout the age on the mother. 22 years old, and her oldest son was 8 :hmm: I guess she started early.

But you gotta hate it for her. She probably doesn't work and has three kids to take care of. Brutal.

Mod Note: Knock off the puns, folks... thanks

discuss the topic at hand - without the punny commentary please


I'm unfamiliar with manure pits - but wouldn't a 10 foot hole in the ground have to have some sort of fencing? the town I grew up in required fences above a certain height around a swimming pool.

It's a fairly typical farm manure pit. The costs of making an underground tank or somehow covering this sort of thing are huge. Pits can be as much as 100' across, 15 or 20 ft. deep. Dangerous areas, and it's a bad way to go

So that makes the mother 14 and the father 19 at first child. Shotgun wedding, anyone?

Drowning is one of the worst ways to die... and drowning in THAT... good God, that's terrible.

i can think of worse ways to have my life ended, but this is in the top 5. I feel for their familes.

sweetpea

That has got to be one of the worst deaths ever.


*shudder*

Definitely feel for the family in this case. Maybe they'll fence the pit off after this. A simple 3 foot fence and a gate large enough to allow a vehicle large enough to back up to the pit wouldn't be overly expensive methinks.

I've never seen a fence around one of these. But I've never seen one that was cement lined either. It sounds like it was positioned to catch runoff so anything that would block the runoff would defeat the purpose of the pit somewhat. You can really smell when you're by the manure pit, even more than in the barn. But why wouldn't they have a flashlight or something with them?? Or at the least - couldn't they remember where the thing was?? I've been on a farm. The Manure pit wasn't that far from the back of the barn. Just don't go near it if you can't see. Course this was an 8 yr old who might not have thought about things like that. That's a sad way to go.

A cover OVER or AROUND the pit?

It's actually unsafe to put a cover over the pit which will result in build up of methane gas that is easily ignited.

There's lots of farms around my area and I've never actually seen a manure pit being enclosed by fences. I've always assumed that it wasn't that deep enough to drown somebody.

I hope it was the gas that got 'em, before they actually "drowned" in the sludge.

I'm a city kid... and have no knowlege of all things manure... but I know of dumpters and they smell pretty rank when you are close to them... Wouldn't a manure pit smell really really really bad? Why would you keep heading in the direction of the manure pit?

Where I grew up (dairy country) none of the manure pits had fences around them, but they did have berms of earth around them to give them a defined edge and protect them from flooding (very common where I grew up).

But yeah, that would be like dying in smelly quicksand...yuck.

Reason #48 why I'm a flashaholic (collector of incredibly high powered flashlights (most of which being overdriven LED's - w00t)): So I don't fall into an unseen pit of manure whilst wandering about in the blackness of night.

That would be one of the most terrible ways to go... :( I hope the wifey is able to support the family, somehow. Ouch.

They don't smell much if the wind is blowing away from the people approaching the pit, I'm pretty sure thats what happened

I was pretty sure a steel grate of some kind could vent gas yet allow shit to fall in.

A fence would have been nice. These were two sensless deaths, I hope that poor mother sues the shit out of that farm. The farm operaters don't seem to bright, one would think they would have had a fence to prevent the livestock from falling in. A stinky shit covered dead cow doesn't bring much at auction .

I believe farming has the highest or one of the highest death rates among occupations. I grew up on a dairy farm in SW Ontario and this happened all the time believe it or not. Usually it was the fumes that got ya but sometimes people slipped in.

I think they now have laws that require covers here...I know every farmer has one in my area now. Anyhow, jeez, ya, what a way to go.

Drowning in _water_ is a bad thought. This has to be near the top of ways not to go. I don't know what I'd do. Stuck in a big sh*thole, and I know it. Dive in and inhale or struggle in a full four-limbed panic? I don't see a merciful exit unless maybe I have a lighter to ignite the methane and go out with a bang.

The article I saw said their car was found with the hood up. It's thought that they had car trouble and were walking back.

Also, this apparently isn't all that uncommon. The article said there were about five deaths from this cause (usually asphyxiation) this year.

Admittedly, the article also said the sludge was thick and could "suck you down," but that's the same BS (oops--sorry Mal) they say about quicksand.

I really, really don't see how someone could die from a big hole filled with manure. I'm aware of the thickness and texture of feces, and if it was liquid, you could simply float in it or grab on to the edge, and if it was thicker, it wouldn't even let you sink that fast in it. The only possible theory is that the kid somehow fell in first and panicked. That resulted in him sinking, and then the father jumped in full-force to dig him out, but ended up getting in too deep also. Even this theory is a little far-fetched.

It is a terrible story, but something just doesn't seem right -- they had to have died due to the gases or something. Quicksand is proven to be bullshit (no pun intended) so I assume that a manure pit would have the same qualities. Either way, that's such a waste of human lives; this is truly one of those stories that make you want to go back in time and simply tell them to stay away from the manure.

That's what I've been led to believe. And from what I understand, there is nothing like OSHA to mandate what would be safe environments and whatnot. (Not that OSHA would be worth a rats ass anyway).

And you city folk wouldn't believe the ages of some of the kids you see operating farm equipment. Children are often the victims of accidents such as this in agriculture.