Sometimes a picture is worth...

[topum]

Sometimes stories on BBC can leave me with a lot of unanswered questions. And they are often solved with just one picture. Look at the story below for example.

Firefighters in Norway have pulled a man from the inside of a toilet after he lowered himself in to retrieve a friend's phone and became stuck in the tank below.

Cato Berntsen Larsen climbed feet-first into the public facility after his friend dropped the phone while urinating.

Wow! That's some friend. How did this go? You decide to check your Facebook while taking a piss and drop your phone in there, so you just shout to your mate "Hey, I dropped the phone into the toilet while taking a piss, get in here and get in that toiled and get my phone, mate!" And your friend is like "On it, man"? Also, good to know that he went in "feet-first" because diving in head-frst seems like an equally appropriate way to do this.

Mr Berntsen Larsen said he had volunteered to enter the tank, which is not connected to the sewer and which is only emptied once a season.

Ughh. And again, what a friend.

The 20-year-old became sick as he stood thigh-deep in its contents, and had to spend an hour completely enclosed in the small area. "I panicked because I hate confined spaces," he told Norwegian newspaper VG.

So the problem with all this was the confined space? Not that you were standing thigh-deep in old shit with things crawling all over you and biting you (as he later told the paper)? It was the confined space that was the main problem here. Had it been a bit more spacious it would have been OK I guess.

"It was damn disgusting - the worst I have experienced. There were animals down there too."
To make matters worse, Mr Berntsen Larsen quickly threw up after entering the tank, which was standing room only.

Well, I do not think that a bit if your own vomit can make things much worse when you are standing thigh-deep in old shit with things crawling all over you. And I like how it is noted that there was standing room only there. That's a bummer. Because you would probably want to have a little sit down or possibly even lie down and relax for a bit. But well, standing room only so...

The unfortunate turn of events had begun when Mr Berntsen Larsen's friend shouted for help to get his phone back. "I did not think twice," Mr Berntsen Larsen said about his decision to go in.

Oh I bet you didn't, mate. I bet you didn't.

But the amateur diver immediately realised he was stuck.

Amateur diver? Please don't ruin diving for everyone.

He later described himself as "apparently thin enough to go down but not thin enough to come up again".

Wow, the guy is insightful.

Firefighters were forced to destroy the toilet, which is now out of service. Mr Berntsen Larsen sustained injuries to his upper arms and said he believed he had been bitten several times. He was treated at hospital and given antibiotics.

He was not successful in retrieving the phone.

Wait, so the phone is still there? Don't tempt me.

This story did leave me puzzled so I just typed "Cato Berntsen Larsen" into Google and hit "Images":



Ah OK, no more questions, I get it, "I did not think twice" makes total sense now. Obviously it was not the only thing he did not think twice about.

PS: Yes, I am a judgmental asshole sometimes.

Comments

[sagittariusbun.livejournal.com]

UGH!!! GROSS!!!!!! o_O

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Well shit. Ha!

Hm is that a scar on his abdomen? It looks like he had somekind of operation done at some point, like to remove an organ.

Maybe a gaul bladder removal-Although they've a better procedure for that now where they don't need to make such a large incision. I know this only because I had to have it done a few years ago. The surgeon went in with a camera through 5 small incisions to find and remove my gaul bladder.

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

I don't know but I hope it is not some non-medical body modification.
WTF with those tattoos on his face?

[topum.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how jumping into that toilet came to his mind.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why people tattoo their face..I mean I get the arms, legs, torso, chest..These can be covered up if need be.  Also those face tattoos might look ok now but when he gets older them things are gonna look horrible.  I mean when the skin starts getting wrinkly and starts sagging. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

Well I think he doesn't need to wait until they horrible, they do look awful now.

[sagittariusbun.livejournal.com]

Maybe the ritual of Chud (http://stephenking.wikia.com/wiki/Ritual_of_Ch%C3%BCd) propelled him into the toilet?

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Yes I am not a fan of face tattoos - Just screams criminal.

Also I imagine it hurt getting them.  I mean imagine sitting in a chair being poked in the face with a tiny needle several times. 

I saw a guy on the bus here one day last week on my way to work that had tattoos on his face and really huge discs in his ear lobes..Like they were bigger then a Canadian quarter these things. I mean earrings are fine on a guy a little stud earring but these things were like coasters.   He looked like a circus freak show. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

I once saw this person (I think he used to be a guy, then a woman and now he is a dragon lady referred to as "it"):



He had his nose and ears cut off.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Lord he looked so much better in the before.  Why did he get all that done to himself? 

Athena

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Lord he looked so much better in the before.  Why did he get all that done to himself? 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

He felt that he was not a man but a dragon lady apparently (first just a woman but then that did not work out after the transition either).
Man, some people get difficult lives dealt to them.
I think that in this case the doctors should not have agreed to cut off his nose and his ears though and should have referred him to psychiatrist. "Dragon Ladies" is where I would draw the line for such drastic procedures for the time being.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

I agree the doctors shouldn't have removed his ears and nose. 

He should have seen a pyschiartirst yes. 

Athena

[diejacobsleiter.livejournal.com]

Oh, I bet he didn't think even once.

"Wait, so the phone is still there? Don't tempt me."

What do you mean? You want to try your luck? Be careful. This time nurses may not come with their water at all..

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be negative and hazard a guess that he thought he could get in there and take pictures of women using the toilet. It would not at all be the first time that someone tried this in a public urinal.

[gneu.livejournal.com]

That's the second thing that made my day!

The first was this thread: http://confusingpuppet.livejournal.com/7756.html?thread=27468#t27468

[topum.livejournal.com]

Wow, that convo was a trip.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, does anything happen without nurses in you world, man?

[diejacobsleiter.livejournal.com]

Only if the doctor permits. For my good behaviour...

[topum.livejournal.com]

Did people actually get inside toilets before to take pictures from the tank? The toilets there are unisex too.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like some serious medical fetish, ha ha.

[wanderipity.livejournal.com]

wow.

That's all I can say about reading this article. Haha.

[topum.livejournal.com]

It made me wonder if I had at least one friend who would jump into a toilet to retrieve the phone that I dropped without thinking twice. I concluded that probably not. And I am very much OK with that. )

[diejacobsleiter.livejournal.com]

Well, I believe in Almighty Doctor in heaven Office, Who rules our lives in our Asylum, and Who punishes us for our sins, and Who rewards us for our good behaviour. And He sends us his Nurses to help us in our humble needs.

Christianity sucks. Now, THAT is the religion!

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes. A non-zero number of people have been arrested for it here.

[wanderipity.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I agree

[aliki.livejournal.com]

This post made my day! I loved the commentary that you provided, to go along with this bizzarre story, and the photo of the guy at the end made it all make sense!!!

[topum.livejournal.com]

I am very visual and I need pictures for everything. I think this story could have been much shorter and much more informative. Something like "A guy in Norway ended up in a toilet trying to retrieve his friend's phone and had to be pulled out by firefighters. It was this dude: [picture of the guy]".

[sleepybadger.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of people I love very much. There is no one I love enough that I would climb into human waste up to my thighs in order to attempt to retrieve their phone. Also, hope he didn't have any open wounds of any kind.

I have to admit, I've never really understood the face tattoo thing. I have no tattoos, so maybe I just don't get it, but I'm not *anti* tattoo, I just don't get the face thing. I mean, I'm all for focusing on gratitude (or at least I think that's what's on his forehead) but I can experience gratitude without having it permanently marked on my face.

Also, were they making a joke when they described him as an 'amateur diver'?

[topum.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that was an attempt to make a joke. The whole article is rather awkwardly written.
I read the Norwegian original and it made a bit more sense (as much as an article on such a story can). This guy actually went in because he was thin enough to git in there and his friend who dropped the phone wasn't.

I don't get tattoos at all especially facial ones but almost total face coverage like this dude has are madness I think.

[aliki.livejournal.com]

No, that isn't as much fun!!!

[gneu.livejournal.com]

He blocked me from responding, too.