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File photo: A hovercraft speeds across the Forth estuary in Scotland. Michael Boyd/PA Archive/Press Association Images
New Zealand
Man decapitated by hovercraft in New Zealand
The man was with his partner and neighbours on a beach testing out a homemade hovercraft when they accident occurred.
A NEW ZEALAND man has been decapitated in front of his partner and neighbours while testing out a homemade hovercraft.
The 40-year-old man, who has not been named, died instantly when the propeller blade of the craft struck him at Muriwai beach, west of Auckland, on Sunday, reports the New Zealand Herald.
The man had reportedly built the hovercraft from a kit, however police have not yet discovered where it was sourced. Sergeant Colin Nuttall, from the Waitemata police serious crash unit, told the New Zealand Herald that police had enlisted the services of an engineer who was a hovercraft expert to assist them with their investigation.
Nuttal said that hovercrafts were almost completely unregulated in New Zealand; anyone can build or fly one providing they do not operate the craft on a road, ABC News reports.
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