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A 20-year-old man died Tuesday afternoon after he fell from the back of a pickup truck and onto a piece of rebar while watching a Mardi Gras parade in Biloxi, Mississippi, according to multiple reports.
The man, identified by Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove as Ocean Springs resident Braydon Hester, essentially impaled himself on the 5-foot-long rebar, the Sun Herald reported.
According to the newspaper, the rebar was one of multiple pieces that officials used under the Interstate 110 overpass to hold up caution tape and discourage spectators from parking under the highway.
Biloxi Fire Chief Joe Boney described the accident as "one of the worst things he's seen at a Mardi Gras parade," the Sun Herald reported.
"He didn't have a pulse at the scene," he told the newspaper. "(The rebar) went through by his rib cage and came out the other side of his torso."
Boney told WLOX that emergency responders had to use hydraulic rescue tools to cut the rebar and free Hester.
"He was in very bad shape when we got to him," he told the news station. "We had to use the (Jaws of Life) to cut the rebar to transport him."
The accident was reported around 3:45 p.m. as the Gulf Coast Carnival Association Mardi Gras parade rolled down the streets. The parade was halted so that an ambulance could reach Hester, The Associated Press reported.
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