Son Saves Farmer From Death in Manure Pit

A Norwegian farmer told Saturday how his son saved him from a gruesome death after he slipped and fell into a nine-foot-deep pit of cow manure.

Marthinus Helgesen, from a village near the arctic town of Tromso, told the Oslo daily Verdens Gang that a grill blocking the pit had been left open and he fell through the gap.

“Fortunately, I fell feet first, but I sank slowly and surely until I was in it up to my neck. Luckily, my son came along and was able to drag me out,” said Helgesen, who suffered arm and chest injuries.

“If he had not been nearby I would probably have been the first person in this country to have died by such an unjust method,” he said, adding he was just beginning to see a humorous side to the accident.