More than One 'Hole' in the Wall: Drunk Russian rescued by firefighters after getting stuck in ventilation shaft
A drunkard had to be rescued buttocks-first after he followed the smell of beetroot soup down a ventilation shaft.
Onlookers posted footage of the bizarre rescue online after firefighters used sledgehammers to smash through the wall of an apartment block stairwell in Barnaul, Russia.
According to reports, the 31-year-old was a homeless man who crawled head-first down a 16-inch wide chimney on Valentine's Day to chase the irresistible aroma of borscht.
Tenants in the town, near the Kazakh border, told LifeNews the lock on an attic apartment was broken and the man's neatly-folded clothes and shoes were left next to the top of the shaft.
They were alerted to the man's plight by a resident who heard 'strange sounds' when he sat down for lunch with his wife.
'I thought you never know, maybe someone decided to clean the ventilation shaft,' he said.
'But the noise was repeated, and as I approached it became clear there was a man there. He yelled: "Save me, help me, I'm choking".'
Firefighters were called and tried a string of methods to pull the man out, including lowering a rope - but he reportedly could not grab hold of it because he was upside down.
The rescuers then resorted to smashing through the walls.
Because they did not know exactly where the man was, they had to break through the wall in more than one place before they found his bare buttocks staring back at them.
It then took several minutes to widen the hole, tearing away pieces of brick and masonry, until the man's legs were exposed allowing him to be pulled to safety.
It is now known why the man was naked at the waist, but Russian media reported he was thought to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The head of the rescue team Vladimir Prisyaznich told LifeNews: 'The shaft width is about 40cm. This size corresponds to a 14-year-old, but is not suitable for an adult.'
The man, who reportedly complained of a broken arm, gave several theories as to why he had crawled into the shaft in the first place.
One theory was that he had followed the smell of freshly-cooked borscht, the traditional Ukrainian beetroot soup.
Another more believable theory was that he was a drug addict who was trying to steal from the residents for his next fix.
He promised to return and repair the wall but the tenants, unwilling to believe him, have already started fundraising to patch up the hole, LifeNews reported.
Onlookers posted footage of the bizarre rescue online after firefighters used sledgehammers to smash through the wall of an apartment block stairwell in Barnaul, Russia.
According to reports, the 31-year-old was a homeless man who crawled head-first down a 16-inch wide chimney on Valentine's Day to chase the irresistible aroma of borscht.
Tenants in the town, near the Kazakh border, told LifeNews the lock on an attic apartment was broken and the man's neatly-folded clothes and shoes were left next to the top of the shaft.
They were alerted to the man's plight by a resident who heard 'strange sounds' when he sat down for lunch with his wife.
'I thought you never know, maybe someone decided to clean the ventilation shaft,' he said.
'But the noise was repeated, and as I approached it became clear there was a man there. He yelled: "Save me, help me, I'm choking".'
Firefighters were called and tried a string of methods to pull the man out, including lowering a rope - but he reportedly could not grab hold of it because he was upside down.
The rescuers then resorted to smashing through the walls.
Because they did not know exactly where the man was, they had to break through the wall in more than one place before they found his bare buttocks staring back at them.
It then took several minutes to widen the hole, tearing away pieces of brick and masonry, until the man's legs were exposed allowing him to be pulled to safety.
It is now known why the man was naked at the waist, but Russian media reported he was thought to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The head of the rescue team Vladimir Prisyaznich told LifeNews: 'The shaft width is about 40cm. This size corresponds to a 14-year-old, but is not suitable for an adult.'
The man, who reportedly complained of a broken arm, gave several theories as to why he had crawled into the shaft in the first place.
One theory was that he had followed the smell of freshly-cooked borscht, the traditional Ukrainian beetroot soup.
Another more believable theory was that he was a drug addict who was trying to steal from the residents for his next fix.
He promised to return and repair the wall but the tenants, unwilling to believe him, have already started fundraising to patch up the hole, LifeNews reported.
Source : DailyMail , LifeNews
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