Darwin Awards - Dusseldorf

A German who tried to fix his leaky air mattress blew up his apartment instead, the fire brigade in the western city of Dusseldorf said on Wednesday.

The 45-year-old man used tire repair solvent to plug a hole in his airbed and left it overnight.

But it blew up when he went to inflate it the next day. “A spark from the electric air pump ignited it,” a fire brigade spokesman said.

Fire fighters evacuated the 12-apartment building and a neighbouring housing block while they checked for structural damage.

*