ARCHIVED - Man found dead inside Barcelona dinosaur
Firefighters had to cut open the leg of the dinosaur to extract the corpse
It’s not every day that firemen are confronted with the dilemma of how to remove a corpse from inside the leg of a dinosaur, but this was exactly the problem faced by emergency services in the district of Santa Coloma de Gramenet in Barcelona this weekend.
The incident began on Saturday when the 112 services were advised that a 39 year-old man had been missing for two days and concluded on Sunday when callers to 112 just after mid-day advised that the body of a man had been found inside the leg of a model dinosaur by a father and son playing in the area.
Three teams from the Fire Brigade of the Generalitat were activated, but were unable to extract the body and finally cut a hole in the dinosaur leg in order to remove it.
🔴 Troben el cos sense vida d'un home dins d'un dinosaure decoratiu dels antics cinemes del Cubics de #SantaColoma de #Gramenet. Un nen i el seu pare, que juguen sovint a la zona, han trobat el cadàver. El pare ha avisat immediatament la policia, que investiga la causa de la mort pic.twitter.com/EIAc3P4Lr1
— El Mirall.net (@elmirallnet) May 22, 2021
The Mossos d'Esquadra are currently investigating the cause of death, but confirm that there were no signs of violence or any indications of a suspicious death; the initial hypothesis is that he climbed inside the publicity sculpture on Saturday night to take shelter, but there is also speculation that he climbed inside to retrieve a mobile phone whch had fallen inside the leg and became wedged inside. An autopsy will now determine the cause of death.
The dinosaur is one of a series that were built to promote a cinema which formerly stood next to the Cubics building in the city, but which has now closed.
This was the only remaining dinosaur in the group and for some reason, had never been removed.
Image: Google streetview