Body Armor Beats Point Blank Car Bomb Blast

[Earnest Cavalli]

Body Armor Beats Point Blank Car Bomb Blast


If a terrorist bomb detonated two feet from your face what would you do? If you answered, "die horribly," you're obviously not a Thai bomb defusal technician.

In the spirit of the holiday, I present: explosions! Specifically, an explosion in Thailand that may or may yes have given me a new personal hero.

Admittedly, this story is a bit outside of The Escapist's normal purview, but as any physics geeks can attest, this video of a bomb tech in the Thai province of Narathiwat catching a car bomb blast to the head, and walking away is just amazing.

This blast was the latest in a series of terrorist bombings throughout the region that have left 2 dead and 13 wounded. The tech in question was attempting to disable the explosive device when, it is assumed, a second device activated, nearly fileting the car it was in.

Lest you think I'm promoting some Looney Tunesian "violence doesn't hurt" agenda, I will note that the blast wasn't exactly harmless. Seven Thai police officers standing a dozen yards away were injured by the explosion and the bomb tech himself suffered unspecified injuries.

That said, he survived a car bomb detonating in his face. I would be tempted to ascribe it all to the kinetic dampening powers of his thick body armor, but I think that would be a bit dismissive to the peoples of Thailand. Their idea of "sport" is kneeing a guy in the face until his jaw explodes.

I don't want to sound unpatriotic, but fat guys whacking a ball with a wooden stick just doesn't breed the same level of inherent badass.

Source: Geek.com [http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/bomb-expert-walks-away-after-car-explodes-next-to-him-2011072/]

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[Sylocat]

When I saw the headline, I thought it was either a joke, or there was some hidden variable that made it not so astonishing.

But no, he survived a point-blank car explosion that injured people a dozen yards away, with stuff he was WEARING.

Wow. Just... wow.

 

[Latinidiot]

holy shit.

Can you imagine the terror of the person holding a camera, as theysaw a guy get blown up. AND WALK AWAY.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I'm pretty sure his pants are considerably heavier now though...

When I saw the headline, I thought it was either a joke, or there was some hidden variable that made it not so astonishing.

But no, he survived a point-blank car explosion that injured people a dozen yards away, with stuff he was WEARING.

Wow. Just... wow.

Same here, I thought it was a joke too.

That's a story to tell the grandkids.

 

[teebeeohh]

wow, that stuff is like space marine armor Mk 0.000001

 

[Deathfish15]

I'm assuming his "unspecified injuries" had to do with the box of screws associated with that bomb. I hope the asshole that made that bomb is caught and suffers a painful death. Shrapnel bombs are the worse kind of bombs because it's not the explosion that kills, it's the flying metal that kills and maims. Sickening.


Although, hats off to the Thai engineers that made a suite so durable to survive that. That should be bought by other countries to be used for the safety of the people that deal with those death devices.

 

[manythings]

I'm assuming some kind of internal injuries must have occured from the sheer concussive force. If not that is one hell of a fucking suit.

I'm pretty sure his pants are considerably heavier now though...

When I saw the headline, I thought it was either a joke, or there was some hidden variable that made it not so astonishing.

But no, he survived a point-blank car explosion that injured people a dozen yards away, with stuff he was WEARING.

Wow. Just... wow.

Same here, I thought it was a joke too.

That's a story to tell the grandkids.

Imagine being his grandkids. Who could beat that story?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Somewhere in Thailand, there is a terrorist yelling about how body armor needs to be nerfed.

But seriously, twenty years ago, a blast like that would've resulted in the police picking up little bits of bomb technician for hours. Now? He gets up within ten seconds under his own power. That really is something.

 

[Distorted Stu]

When i read point blank i instantly thought of the ps1 games and arcade games that i love so much. So when im greeted to a video of a man who gets blown up, it came as a shock. BUT... that was awesome. Lucky man.

 

[C95J]

Holy shit I want that suit!

Man, I can only imagine what was running through that guys mind after the explosion went off, and he just got up and walked away! I bet he felt like a badass.

 

[Shamanic Enzan]

Talk about taking one for the team

 

[Jumplion]

I like how he did a "Fuck yeah! In yo' face, terrorists!" gesture with his arms when he got back up from the explosion.

I'm pretty sure his pants are considerably heavier now though...

...from the massive balls he was just granted by the divine.

Hope the guy comes out of this with minor internal injuries or whatever. This is something to tell the grandkids.

 

[NicoDK]

As cool as this is, i can't help but wonder why he would open the door? If you suspect theres a bomb in a car, the terrorist obviously rigged it to trigger when something everyone does with a car happens, aka opening the door to the drivers seat or turning it on.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Fucking asshole terrorists, just a bunch of douche bags, that's what they all, they should all be lined up and shot.

OT: Whoever made the armor deserves a medal

 

[Nykal]

Ive seen a bomb squad suit before and if this one is anything like that one then Im going to make a couple assumptions

1. That the suit ways over 100lbs, so its not like something you can wear all the time and say your invincible.

2. That the suit does not cover your hands at all in order to be able to work on the bomb efficiently. So im willing to bet that the unspecified injurys are at the least a loss of one or both hands

Maybe im wrong and this is a newer model but the two look exactly the same. Here's a picture of the one im talking about http://fortsmithfire.com/Portals/0/Bomb%20Squad/Airport%20Training%2008-2006%20(10).JPG

 

[EvilestDeath]

IRON MAN GET AWAY FROM THAT CAR ITS A BOM...*explosion*...oh wait hes fine. It's cool, walk it off buddy.

 

[crepesack]

The sad part is that he was probably permanently deafened by an explosion that close...I don't know about you guys but I'd rather lose an arm than become deaf.

 

[the_honey_badger]

Well, what did you expect? Juggernaughts can survive multiple shots to the face with RPG's and grenade launchers.

 

[Palademon]

Holy shit I want that suit!

Man, I can only imagine what was running through that guys mind after the explosion went off, and he just got up and walked away! I bet he felt like a badass.

Too bad he loses some badass points, because cool guys don't look at explosions.

 

[vxicepickxv]

As cool as this is, i can't help but wonder why he would open the door? If you suspect theres a bomb in a car, the terrorist obviously rigged it to trigger when something everyone does with a car happens, aka opening the door to the drivers seat or turning it on.

I won't mention unspecified means to get rid of individuals(see Bourne Identity for a very specific car related one that would work, but not with an explosion like that), but they probably didn't know exactly how it was rigged.