At around 1:35 p.m. local time last Thursday, the fire brigade in Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, suddenly received a call that someone had fallen from a height in a house in the Betania neighborhood and was in urgent need of help.
The firefighters immediately rushed to the scene, and the scene in front of them really exceeded their expectations......
The accident occurred in a kitchen where a nearly 40-meter-deep pit was dug into the floor of the kitchen, equivalent to a 12-story building, and professional excavation equipment such as air compressors, chisels and water pumps were placed around the hole.
(The kitchen of the deceased's house has a pit nearly 40 meters deep)
挖坑的正是房子的主人、71岁的João Pimenta da Silva。
Before the fire brigade received the call, he had just finished a new round of digging operations, but when he was about to climb out of the hole, he accidentally lost his balance and fell to the bottom of the pit instantly......
The friend who helped him dig the pit together was unable to rescue him, so he had to call for help.
(死者João Pimenta da Silva)
The hole is only 89 centimeters in diameter, and there are no safety facilities in the pit, and the firefighters managed to go deep into the bottom of the pit with the help of various protective equipment and oxygen cylinders to rescue Joao, but it was too late, he had no signs of life for a long time......
The local police also joined the investigation and sent a forensic team to the scene to inspect Joao's body, which was then taken away for examination, and was said to be covered in abrasions, broken legs and hips, and severe brain injuries...... The exact cause of death will not be known until the report is available.
(Firefighters wear equipment and prepare to go down to the pit to save people)
But more puzzling than the cause of death is what happened to the pit in the kitchen.
The local media interviewed Arnaldo da Silva, a neighbor who has a good relationship with Joao, and it was only then that the truth was revealed......
Joao had a dream in which a "god" assured him that gold was hidden under the rocks in the basement of his kitchen.
Joao was convinced of this, and woke up excitedly planning to dig.
When his neighbor Arnaldo heard the news, he kept telling him to think twice, warning him that it was too dangerous to dig a pit without permission, and that he might dig up some explosive gases.
But Joao turned a deaf ear, and somehow invited a group of "experts" to evaluate the site and immediately started excavating, which lasted more than a year.
(Joao's kitchen status)
After all, it is not a small project, and the strength of one person is simply not enough. In order to increase efficiency, Joao had to spend another amount of money to hire a lot of helpers.
At first, the pit was shallow and easy to dig, and he only needed to pay 70 Brazilian reais (about 103 yuan) a day. Later, as the pit was dug deeper and deeper, the work became more difficult, and the wages paid rose.
In the end, anyone who is willing to go into the pit to help him dig the soil will get about 500 reais (about 734.5 yuan).
In order to pay for the money, and to buy all kinds of new excavation equipment, Joao had to sell the property he had accumulated over the years, and before he could find the gold, he scattered all the money he had.
But he was already crazy thinking about gold, and he refused to give up.
A while ago, he dug up a big rock that could not be removed, and he was thinking about getting some explosives to blow it up, leaving his life behind him.
(死者João Pimenta da Silva)
And so it turned out......
On the day of the incident, Joao was digging a pit with a friend, Antônio Wilson Costa. Antônio had long lost hope in finding gold, and at most he had dug up a little water.
However, Joao did not listen to the persuasion, and continued to work vigorously to remove the water and silt from the bottom of the pit, and did not finish his work until about 1 p.m., and when he finally tried to climb up to the mouth of the cave, one accidentally slipped from the gondola and fell to the bottom of the pit......
Antônio tried to hold him back, and was almost dragged into a deep pit, so he had to call the fire brigade for help, but Joao died almost instantly, and no one could recover......
(消防队员深入坑底解救Joao)
Now it seems that this 40-meter deep pit, Joao thought he was digging for treasure, but in fact he was digging his own "grave".
It is really embarrassing to take family property and even life for unrealistic fantasies......