Stupid: Two hurt critically in mock light sabre duel

Sci-Fi · May 24th, 2005, 07:09 PM

From BBC:

Two hurt in mock light sabre duel

Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol.

A man, aged 20, and a girl of 17 are believed to have been filming a mock duel when they poured fuel into two glass tubes and lit it.

The pair were rushed to hospital after one of the devices exploded in woodland at Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

A third person present at the incident had been questioned, police said.

Videotape found

A videotape was found nearby by police called to the scene on Sunday.

A police spokeswoman said the pair were taken to West Herts Hospital before being transferred to the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, in Essex.

They are both said to be in a critical condition.

She said the 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man from Hemel Hempstead suffered serious injuries.

She added: "At this stage we are unable to confirm the exact circumstances, but glass tubes and traces of accelerant (flammable substance) were found at the scene."

The final film in the Star Wars series, Revenge Of The Sith, arrived at UK cinemas last week.

One of the crucial scenes features a light sabre battle between Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker.

May 24th, 2005, 07:16 PM

Read this on CNN earlier today.
The complete and utter stupidity of what they did astounds me. 20 and 17?

I told my 10 year old daughter about this tonight on the way home from a soccer game ( we were yapping about "Sith" ) and she said "what were they thinking????"

Lara · May 24th, 2005, 09:36 PM

Just proves common sense ain't so common...

Cheers,
Lara

bsg1fan1975 · May 25th, 2005, 04:15 AM

this goes to show you that there are some people out there who don't use the brains they were born with!

gmd3d · May 25th, 2005, 05:22 AM

MADDNESS

cranky1c · May 25th, 2005, 11:03 AM

Critical condition with burns, regardless of how they got that way, (shudder.) Hard to get more painful injuries than that.

Charybdis · May 25th, 2005, 11:27 AM

Ooh, that's gotta hurt! Filling tubes with petrol (gasoline) and lighting them??? Man, they must have been inhaling the stuff first to try that!!!!

bsg1fan1975 · May 25th, 2005, 11:27 AM

one is an adult and should have known better!

Fragmentary · May 25th, 2005, 11:36 AM

Ironically, this is the very reason why the Jedi never gave Jar Jar a lightsaber.

Gemini1999 · May 25th, 2005, 11:41 AM

Even if they hadn't filled the flourescent tubes with gasoline, it still would have been dangerous as the tubes are very fragile and kind of "explode" when you break them. The glass bits alone could damage your eyes if they got in them.

You would think they would have just gone down to the toy store and bought the Kenner lighsabers to mess around with. At least they would have had fun and would still be around to talk about it...

Really, just unbelieveable......how stupid some people are - regardless of how old or how young.

Bryan

TopGun · May 25th, 2005, 01:45 PM

A friend gave me the link to the Story yesterday.

Idiots pure and simple

bsg1fan1975 · May 26th, 2005, 03:46 AM

I agree with you all. Bryan, your right about flourescent tubes. i worked around them all the time when I worked in a lighting factory. That is one of the reasons we had to wear safety glasses.

TopGun · May 27th, 2005, 01:46 AM

I remember one day at Sixth Form (UK Educational System) someone kicked a Football in a Classroom and shattered one of the Lights

bsg1fan1975 · May 27th, 2005, 08:24 AM

TopGun, that one kind of reminds me of the story my brother in law told me about the time when he was in carpentry class and the teacher was out of the room and the class which included his cousin decided to play baseball with a broomstick for a bat and erasers for the ball and they ended up hitting one of the overhead lights and brought it crashing down as they ran out of the room knowing it was coming down!

TopGun · May 27th, 2005, 01:36 PM

That's classic. In the UK it'll probablly be Cricket or Rounders (like Baseball but with a smaller bat)

Lara · May 28th, 2005, 02:44 AM

At my last place of employment it was kicking the footy around at lunchtime in the high clearance warehouse: those sodium lamps explode when impacted, as our warehouse guys found out (and cost two weeks pay to replace!!)

Cheers,
Lara

TopGun · May 28th, 2005, 03:08 AM

At work the other week, one of my workmates was pumping up some Basketballs and said to another of our workmates "is this hard enough, I know Ill test it" and he bounched it on the floor and it then hit one of the lights, which then fell out and hit the ground. It didn't explode until it hit the ground though

May 31st, 2005, 03:21 AM

Some people simply didn't find the ON-switch to their brains ...

Titon · May 31st, 2005, 11:50 AM

DOH!

bsg1fan1975 · June 1st, 2005, 12:41 PM

my brother in law was known to hang out with some people who were not the sharpest knife in the drawer! when they played baseball in carpentry class that day, no one expect to bounce one off the lights!