Gardener decapitated after rope slips around his neck and is sucked into wood chipper

By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 6:26 PM on 27th September 2010

A gardener was horrifically killed after being decapitated when a rope around his neck was dragged into a wood chipper.

Miguel Vargas desperately fought to avoid being pulled into the chipper after the rope was fed into the churning mechanism.

As the noose tightened around his neck it decapitated his head from his body.

Other workers made the horrific discovery when they shut down the machine.

The gruesome accident happened in Tampa, Florida, where 44-year-old Vargas was part of a five man crew trimming trees on a suburban street.

He was feeding branches into the chipper when a rope that had been used by one of the tree trimmers somehow slipped over his neck.

Unable to reach the emergency shut off button, Vargas desperately tried to avoid being dragged head first into the machine where he would have been chopped to bits.

According to his boss Dwayne Wilson the force of the rope looped around his neck was so great that he was decapitated.

Wilson said: 'I heard a piece of metal and I ran back to shut the machine down and when I did, I looked and saw him on the ground.

'The force of the wood chipper pulling the rope, Miguel struggled against the rope trying to escape the chipper but was decapitated within seconds.'

Wilson said Vargas's screams would have been drowned out by the noise of the chipper as it stripped and shredded branches.

He said he hit the emergency stop button after hearing a metal clip on the rope grinding against the chipper blades, but by that time Vargas was dead.

Police said Vargas had worked as a tree trimmer for seven years and had four years experience operating the wood chipper.

They have ruled his death an accident.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315616/Gardener-decapitated-rope-slips-neck-sucked-wood-chipper.html