A drunk man who lit a cigarette while filling a jerry can with petrol blew himself into the air and landed in the arms of the law, Australian police said. The 40-year-old motorist drove into a petrol station on the Gold Coast tourist strip of Queensland and began filling the can from a petrol bowser. But his pit stop came unstuck when the cigarette in his mouth ignited the petrol in the can.
The petrol exploded, his car burst into flames and the man was blown 4.5 metres through the air, crashing to earth on a nest of angry ants. The man suffered minor burns to his legs which did not require hospital treatment.
Fire crews put out a blaze in his car, which was badly damaged. „He suffered a few small burns and some ant bites,“ a police spokesman said. „We took a vote and this is one of the stupidest things we‘ve ever heard of.“
Police arrested the man and charged him with drink-driving, driving without a licence and driving an unregistered vehicle. (Reuters)
