Queensland fire crews work to rescue man in his 80s stuck up to his neck in silo of fertiliser
Specialist fire crews were working on Sunday to rescue a man in his 80s trapped in a silo filled with urea in regional Queensland.
A Queensland fire department spokesperson said a family member of the man reported just after 1.30pm he had fallen into a silo on the property near Eurombah, north of Roma.
The silo contained urea, which is used for fertiliser.
Queensland fire and rescue crews specialising in confined space and vertical rescue had secured the man in a harness while the urea was slowly released out of the bottom of the silo.
As of 4pm, the urea had been lowered to the man's waist level, with rescue crew using buckets to empty it out.
A rescue helicopter was on the scene to assist, alongside the fire crews, Queensland ambulance service and Queensland police.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
When life gives you cumquats or kumquats make a marmalade and mezcal cocktail
In our Melbourne garden, the only fruit tree that produces with any regularity is a cumquat. Bitter little things, cumquats – spelled kumquats outside Australia – are not quite as versatile as most other citrus. So, I say 'when life gives you cumquats, make marmalade!' – then use it in a punchy and tangy cocktail. The Lady Marmalade is a late-night specialty in our household. You can make a non-alcoholic version by shaking up the marmalade with a tangy fruit juice. Grapefruit with a splash of lime works well; the marmalade adds texture and complexity that elevates the juice to mocktail status. The cocktail is made with mezcal and apricot brandy but you can swap out the mezcal for aged tequila, brandy or whisky. You could also use a brighter marmalade based on lime, lemon or grapefruit, and switch the lime juice for lemon to pair with a lighter spirit. To make the spiced marmalade, you'll need a saucepan, juicer, microplane, measuring jug and scale. For the cocktail, you'll need a rocks glass, shaker and a jigger. 500g cumquats 1 cup (250ml) water, or enough to cover the cumquats250g granulated white sugar, or to taste (I like to keep my marmalade quite tart)Pinch salt 1 tsp ground cumin ½ tsp smoked paprika ½ lemon, zest and juice Quarter or slice the cumquats (depending on size). You can cover the cumquats with the water and leave them to soak overnight if you have time. This softens the fruit, which helps it to cook faster and keeps the flavour fresher, but it's not imperative. If you do this, cook the cumquats in the same water you soaked them in. Put the cumquats, water and sugar in a saucepan and stir over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until the fruit is tender and the sugar has dissolved. Add the salt, spices, lemon zest and juice while still over a low heat, then increase the heat and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to medium and continue boiling for about 20 minutes, or until the marmalade has thickened. To check if it has reached setting point, place a small plate in the freezer until cold, then drop a dollop of marmalade on the cold plate. Tilt the plate and, if the marmalade doesn't run, you're good to go. If it runs, continue boiling for a few minutes, then use the same cold plate method to check again. Or you can just eyeball it, if you're a cowboy like me. Fish out any pips you can see. If marmalade is properly jarred and sealed in a sterile container, it can last in the pantry for up to six months. Once opened, keep it refrigerated and use within 12 weeks. 45ml mezcal 15ml apricot brandy2 tbsp spiced cumquat marmalade30ml lime juiceCubed iceCumquat halves, to garnish Add the alcohol, marmalade and lime juice to your shaker tins with ice and shake hard. 'Dump' into your glass (in other words don't strain it, just pour in the same ice you shook with), adding more ice if necessary to fill the glass. Garnish with a cumquat half. This is an edited extract from Behind the Home Bar by Cara Devine, with photography by Gareth Sobey (A$36.99, NZ$36.99, Hardie Grant Books), out 1 July
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘I don't think my brain should have gone through that': five young people on their experience of smartphones as teens
Debate and anxiety about teen and preteen access to smartphones and social media is raging. One paper has likened smartphones to a 'parasite' on our brains, while another study suggests moderate use of social media does not have a harmful effect on young people. In the US more than 100,000 parents have joined an online pledge to delay giving children smartphones until at least the eighth grade and in Australia a ban on under-16s using social media will come into effect in December. Despite all this, OECD figures released in May show 70% of 10-year-olds and 98% of 15-year-olds have internet-connected smartphones. So is giving teenagers smartphones that big a deal? To find out, we asked four twentysomethings who got a smartphone at some point in their teen or preteen years – and one who didn't. Sienna Seychell, 21, Melbourne I was about 11 when I got my first smartphone. But when I was six I got an iPod Touch so I had already been communicating with people that way. My brother installed Kik, the infamous app for predators, on the iPod – a bit concerning to think about now! But I just used it to text my friends from school. I know a fair few of my friends went down a rabbit hole contacting people that they definitely shouldn't have at that age. I got social media in year 5 or 6. I convinced my mum to let me get Snapchat for the filters and I got Instagram shortly after. It definitely brought my friendships closer because I had a readily accessible means of communication outside school hours. I was cyberbullied in year 6, so that was a negative. But I feel like I put that aside to be able to talk with friends. I had a good experience of social media overall but it has contributed to friends' severe eating disorders. I think I would have been more outdoorsy had I not had a phone. I would have connected with nature more and hung out in the real world, instead of online all the time. I think it would have made a great impact on my mental health. I suffer from pretty bad anxiety and OCD and sometimes I feel that a big trigger is using my phone and being able to focus on things online that are outside my control. I would have hated a social media ban – but I would have gotten over it! If I could go back I would have not let myself ever get TikTok. I think my attention span is so poor because of it and I really struggle to sit down and study or just do what I love doing without getting distracted. I can barely watch a movie for an hour without checking my phone a few times. I'm always on my phone. Ella Jackson, 21,, regional New South Wales I was 12 when Mum took me to get an iPhone 5, so I had Instagram from a really young age. I grew up in a place called Penrose, which is in the NSW southern highlands. I liked emo music so I would spend a lot of time on my phone looking into that world. I found a sense of belonging on the internet, because there weren't a lot of people around who liked the same things as me. The bad side of it was Instagram models, obviously. Twelve-year-old girls shouldn't be comparing themselves to 30-year-old women. I think I also became conscious of the fact that it seemed like a big deal to live a life that was 'worth' posting on Instagram, especially in the later part of high school. It made me conscious of how people perceive others. I felt like everybody was judging each other all the time. Studying I found so tricky, because the phone was always there and it was so easy to be distracted by it. I ended up having to film myself studying so I couldn't go on my phone. And because my mum's house was in a regional part of the highlands, there was no way out unless she was going to drive me 40 minutes into town. So I was just stuck at home all weekend and would just sit there streaming, which is crazy. It's this huge amount of time that was not well spent. When I got my driver's licence, all of this changed. I could go places and see my friends. More interesting things came along and my brain was like, OK, you don't need to be doing this any more. Zach Karpinellison, 29, Sydney I had a dumb phone until I was probably 15, then I pivoted to a cheap Android. On my dumb phone I had limited data and credit. So the clear difference was that, all of a sudden, you're constantly messaging other people. I was in an era where schools had no sense of whether phones needed to be regulated, so you had your phone on you all the time. It was a real opportunity to have quite deep conversations with people, which would do a lot of the work of forming a friendship with them. It was also an opportunity to connect to a wider pool of people outside school. That was good – I liked that part of it. But it trained me to expect immediate contact with everybody. I would feel a real panic and stress over not hearing back from people if they didn't immediately write back. I carry that with me to this day – being stressed about someone not responding to me. As a teenager, you're already full of anxiety and trying to figure out the world. Then you're messaging someone at 2am and they drop off, and you spiral out into 'something terrible has happened!' I don't think my brain should have gone through that at that stage. I had Facebook and Messenger, then Instagram towards the end of high school. Because I went through those different iterations of the internet, I am savvy about how to use these things but also have an ability to step away from it. I recognise when I'm being sold things in a way that people who are gen Z don't necessarily. But we were posting ourselves online and comparing the like counts [of Instagram posts]. That was, like, absolutely brain melting. It was not good. Pearl Cardis, 24, Sydney I had a Nokia brick phone in school. It was the equivalent of a party trick because I could toss it across the playground, or break in three pieces for the drama, and then put it back together – people's eyes got so wide. But beyond that it was pretty rough. We were quite low-income. Mum had all of us on Vodafone so that we could do free Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls but we weren't able to text anyone. So I could only really use my phone to call family. All around me it was Apple city – everyone else had an iPhone. I was not overly concerned with fitting in but I also didn't have great friendships. I doubt being different in that way helps when you're already kind of an oddball. For me the dominant experience was one of stress and isolation because I had less independence and less ability to connect with people around me. It was difficult to travel anywhere or meet anyone because I couldn't use maps or text friends. I remember getting off the bus one time and just being so panicked, in the middle of nowhere, with no way to contact anyone except an actual pay phone on the side of the road. I tried to call someone but they didn't pick up. I know that a lot of people had huge body image issues going through high school or were very concerned with trends and appearance – whereas I was just not conscious of that. I still had low self-esteem, which I think any young person will, but it was more through comparison to my peers than anyone online. I didn't get a proper phone until I was 20. I think I'm a very different person to what the mould looks like for the people I grew up with. I am able to go without my phone for an extremely long time without worrying about it. I feel less habituated to needing to check notifications all the time, and I hate [the pressure to] respond to people regularly. But when TikTok came out there were periods where I would be trapped for five hours at a time scrolling. I just get so sucked in because I have no guardrails. It's like a kid who doesn't have sugar who gets access to sugar. Maybe these are things that it's better to be trained to adapt to as you grow up, as opposed to the floodgates opening all in one go. Reinhard Holl, 24, Adelaide I got an iPhone in year 7. I came to social media a little bit later, maybe midway through high school – it didn't spark my interest that much at first. Later it became more of a fixation. I would say social media became a little bit of a negative thing in the way that I felt a lot of pressure to be perceived a certain way, put things online and keep up with the way that everybody else was using it in high school. But it also became a good way to interact with people. The phone definitely affected my sleep. I would wake up and get straight on my phone and mentally reinforce having that immediate stimulus as a normal thing. I think it affected my attention span, too – it was this thing that I was focused on constantly. If I could go back I wouldn't have allowed myself to sleep with it in my room. But really, I feel like I got thrown in the deep end and learned how to have a phone that way. I now have a good dynamic with it – I know how to use it in a way that works well for me.
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Off-duty ambulance worker jumped into river to save screaming children after bus crash - as 'hero' driver, 69, and girl, 16, are still in hospital with major injuries
An off-duty ambulance worker jumped into a river to save screaming children after a bus crash yesterday, as police confirmed the 'hero' driver and a 16-year-old schoolgirl remain in hospital with major injuries. The bus, which was carrying 19 children and the driver at the time of the crash, careered down a busy road and collided with a car before leaving the edge of the street and toppling into a river. The double-decker crashed yesterday morning at around 10am in Eastleigh, Hampshire, while carrying children on their way to Barton Peveril College. The driver, a 69-year-old male, and a 16-year-old girl suffered serious injuries and are still in hospital. Three other teenagers, two girls and boy all aged 17, sustained serious injuries but have since been discharged from hospital. The other 15 passengers, aged between 16 and 18, all received minor injuries, with three of them needing hospital treatment. It has since been reported that the driver informed passersby who rushed to help that the brakes had failed and the accelerator jammed. Ambulance team leader Jade Etheridge, who lives nearby, saw people 'gathered around the railings' shortly after the incident and her first instinct was to go into the water to help the 'screaming children'. After everyone had been rescued Ms Etheridge, who works for the 111 service for South Central Ambulance Service, had to walk home 'covered in mud and blood'. 'There was the bus driver, bless his heart, he was shouting for help,' Ms Etheridge, 28, said. 'He was up to his chest in mud and I could see him laying sideways across out of the seat. There was another girl, a teenage girl, screaming. 'I don't know if they managed to push that off to get out, but I smacked the back of the bus and said somebody help me up. 'I was sinking in the mud. There was a lad upstairs, shouting down they were stuck and that somebody was injured.' Another man, who did not have first aid training, also boarded the bus with a medical kit to help the injured passengers. Ms Etheridge took the lead, directing those who could 'walk and talk' off the bus so she could triage the five people who were more seriously injured. 'I checked all of them when they were getting off the back of the bus,' she continued. One video captured a young woman walking along the street as the bus careered along the road in Eastleigh, Hampshire 'They had bumps, bruises, bloody noises. I checked them all. There were a couple of quite nasty head injuries, a lad with probably a dislocated arm. 'Apparently the bus driver had shouted for them to brace themselves. Two of the students, I did do first aid on, but everybody that was up walking and talking we got off the bus. 'We had to triage the more serious injuries. If you can walk and talk, then out of the way, because there were five that were taken to hospital, and a couple of them were quite seriously injured.' Ms Etheridge praised the other good Samaritan who had jumped into help without any training. She said: 'I think he deserves credit for jumping into a situation that was quite frankly terrifying,' she said. 'You don't know what you're going to find in a situation like that. 'When I got into the bus, it was a puddle of water, and by the time I was getting off, it was up to my shin. 'It was a sinking bus, it's not deep but it was cold, wet, muddy and we had nothing but a first aid kit to help these people. After everything, I've walked home, covered in mud, covered in blood.' Local resident Kelly West was working from home at the time and ran outside when she heard screeching and saw the bus 'come careering into the river'. She told BBC News on Thursday that she spoke to the driver who told her he was 'doing the best he could to avoid cars as he was coming down the road'. At least five ambulances were at the scene on the residential Bishopstoke Road and an air ambulance landed near the crash site, which was cordoned off by police. Fire crews were seen with stretchers on hand to take people off the bus which was carrying passengers from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College in the town. This morning police confirmed that the bus had been safely removed from the scene and the road has been reopened. Yesterday footage from inside the Bluestar 607 vehicle showing students clinging to the seats on the top deck as the countryside rushes past the windows with horrifying speed. The teenagers' voices get more and more panicked as they shout down the bus 'we're gonna die. We're actually gonna die. What's he doing? We're actually going to die!'. They claim the bus has just had a 'major crash and now he's speeding off', while the front window appears to have been smashed. Bruno Aguiar is a local electrician was on his way to work when his van was almost struck by the bus full of college students. 'I saw the bus coming really fast. I swerved to the pavement, and the bus came into the middle of both lanes,' he said. 'It hit a red Corsa from a driving school and then went into the river. 'I went to check on the driver, and he was asking for an ambulance. I saw [the bus] was full of children.' Bruno was quick to take action, pulling the ladder from his van to help bring the students to safety. He added that another man wearing a Bluestar uniform, believed to have been passing by, was also 'really quick to help' to remove the children from the bus. Inspector Andy Tester of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary at the scene yesterday 'I went to get the ladder off my van and helped the children get off the bus,' Bruno added. 'There were no adults except the bus driver on the bus. 'I wasn't thinking clearly. The children were all panicked. A child doesn't think; they wait for help,' he added: 'I think it was a miracle nobody was more seriously injured.' The driver of the bus has since been hailed as a hero for avoiding a more serious incident. Dr John Fisher, who helped rescue students, told the BBC: 'It feels that he tried to ditch it to avoid a head-on crash... it's a bit of a miracle.' 'We think the driver is a bit of a hero,' he added. And James West, who also lives locally, told the Daily Echo: 'I think he was a bit of a hero in all honesty, because he could've taken out cars, houses. He could've taken out pedestrians. 'It sounds like he's had to do the best he can to try and minimise. If you suddenly slam the anchors on, would it tip over?' A father of one of the passengers said his 17-year-old son thought the crash happened quickly and could not see what caused the incident. Scott Agass said: 'We are just waiting for our son who was onboard. They are not in the bus at the moment, I think they are all out. He said he was sitting there with a blanket and a monitor on his finger. 'He doesn't really know what happened or what caused it. I suppose it just happened so quick. All he saw was that it crashed and gone in the river.' Keith Trenchard, from Eastleigh, had been out with his family when he came across the scene. He said: 'We arrived 20 minutes after and it was all closed off. They have the divers here as well from the police and the fire brigade.' Local resident Jonathan Holdstock said: 'It was half ten when I heard a bunch of sirens. When I heard it was a bus in the river I didn't believe it.' Inspector Andy Tester, of Hampshire Constabulary, said a total of 20 people were onboard the bus, 19 of which were passengers. He said: 'It must have been terrifying and my thoughts are very much with what the children and the driver on the bus, who must have had a terrifying experience.' Mr Tester added that several people including the driver were trapped on board when emergency services arrived. He said: 'There were a large number of specialist resources helping to get people out of the bus. The double-decker bus left the road and ended up in the water in Eastleigh, Hampshire 'Some people had got themselves out of the bus, and it was obviously important to us to triage the injured people, to assess the people who were still stuck in the bus, and to make sure we had accounted for everyone.' Mr Tester also praised the bravery of members of the public and emergency services who helped at the scene. He said: 'So there was a lot of bravery shown by many people who were first on scene, who didn't have training to work in water and weren't equipped, but quickly backed up by our fire and ambulance colleagues who did have the right training to make it safe and make it a safe working environment.' Mr Tester added: 'We believe that everyone, every passenger on the bus, was a student heading to Barton Peveril College. 'And I would stress at this point that all of those, all all of those people, their families, have been notified, and that has all been done so they are in touch with their loved ones.' He continued: 'There's no indication at the moment as to why the bus left the road, and that is what's going to form part of our immediate investigation. 'We hope to open the road within 12 hours. That is our best hope. 'We will do the best we can to shorten that but, as you'll appreciate, we have to do a thorough examination of the scene, and then there's a complex recovery of getting the bus out of the river.' A spokesperson for South Central Ambulance Service said: 'We have sent multiple units to the incident including five ambulances, two helicopters, and specialist response units. 'We're continuing to support and assess patients on scene. All patients have been removed from the bus. Three high priority patients are being taken to hospital. Around 14 with less serious injuries are being treated on scene.' At least five ambulances were at the scene on a residential road in the Hampshire town on Thursday A spokesperson for Barton Peveril Sixth Form College has said: 'We are aware of an incident involving the College 607 Bus. College staff are working closely with the police to ensure the safety and well-being of all students. 'We ask that people do not attend the actual scene. For concerned parents, an Incident Centre has been established at The Hub at Bishopstoke. 'An officer and college staff will be available at the Hub to provide updates and address any questions you may have.' A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: 'We are currently dealing with an incident on Bishopstoke Road in Eastleigh, after College Bus 607 for Barton Peveril students left the carriageway into a river. 'Emergency services are in attendance and the road has been closed so please avoid the area. 'It is anticipated the road may be closed for up to 12 hours for investigation and recovery work. 'Everyone on the bus has been accounted for and all injured persons are being treated by the ambulance service.' A Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: 'We are on scene of an RTC involving one double decker bus that went off the road in Bishopstoke, Eastleigh. 'Fire crews from Eastleigh, St Mary's, Redbridge, Hightown and Portchester are in attendance alongside emergency service colleagues. 'People are asked to avoid the area to help emergency services deal with this incident.' Richard Tyldsley, Bluestar general manager, said: 'One of our buses, carrying students to Barton Peveril College, was involved in an incident earlier this morning in Bishopstoke Road, Eastleigh. 'Reports suggest the bus left the highway and came to rest in a shallow river. 'There were 19 passengers on-board at the time. Our driver and at least two of the passengers have confirmed injuries, and we are awaiting further updates on the status of others on-board. 'We do not currently have full details of their injuries and are following their progress closely. 'Our thoughts are with everybody involved, and we wish those who were injured a full and speedy recovery. 'At this time, we do not know the circumstances behind this incident and are carrying out an immediate investigation. We are also assisting the police as they carry out their own inquiries.'
