Man Killed in Catapault Accident
A student was killed when he was hurled more than 30 meters through the air from a catapault (or trebuchet, if you’re a stickler for details). The incident happened three years ago, but the inquest is ongoing:
Oxford University student Kostydin Yankov, 19, suffered multiple injuries when he missed a safety net after being flung from a medieval-style trebuchet catapult.
Mr Yankov, a biochemistry undergraduate known as Dino, was part of the university extreme sports club – the Oxford Stunt Factory – who had visited the trebuchet site in Middlemoor Water Park near Bridgwater, Somerset, in November 2002.
Yankov was apparently a member of a ‘dangerous and extreme sports club’ called The Oxford Stunt Factory. So, he was hardly some naive tourist, but it’s still pretty awful.
I found some photos and personal account of a successful, uh, launch from the same device: ” I did a couple of somersaults before I hit the net”.
Theresa