A policeman from Caratinga said that the man, who has been identified as Joao Maria de Souza was sleeping in his bed next to his wife when a one ton cow fell through his asbestos roof and landed on him.
The cow supposedly escaped from a nearby farm and wandered onto the de Souza’s roof which abuts a steep, grass covered hillside. The cheap, asbestos roof was unable to support the full grown cow’s weight and collapsed sending the cow plummeting onto de Souza from a height of nearly three metres.
While both the cow and de Souza’s wife escaped the incident uninjured, the mixture of cow and roof badly injured Mr de Souza’s leg and chest.
45-year-old de Souza was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries and suspected internal injuries after a number of hours.
Naturally the family of Mr de Souza were shocked and deeply saddened by the random way in which their loved one was taken from them.
“Being crushed by a cow in your bed is the last way you expect to leave this earth,” de Souza’s brother told Hoje em Dia, a Brazilian newspaper. “But in my view it wasn’t the cow that killed our Joao, it was the unacceptable time he spent waiting to be examined.”
According to the Huffington Post, a local television news station contacted the hospital in question who denied any wrongdoing in Mr de Souza’s death.
Mr de Souza’s poor mother also spoke to Hoje em Dia saying she couldn’t believe her son had been killed in such a bizarre way, after he had survived a serious illness as a child.
“I didn’t bring my son up to be killed by a falling cow. He nearly died when he was two and got meningitis, but I worked hard to buy medicines for him and he survived.
“And now he’s lying in his bed and gets crushed to death by a cow,” she continued. “There’s no justice in the world.”
Hoje em Dia are also quoted as saying that while the identity of the cow’s owner remains a mystery, it is likely that they could face charges relating to de Souza’s death if/when they’re found.
Image: Getty
