A 71-year-old man in Brazil died after falling down a 130-foot hole he dug under his kitchen floor after dreaming there was gold buried beneath it. According to the New York Post, Joao Pimenta plunged down the shaft he had excavated after he lost his balance while venturing down to search for goods. His neighbours said that the man had become obsessed with the idea there was gold buried in the area under the property and had spent over a year digging for the treasure.
The Post reported that one of Mr Pimenta's neighbours, Arnaldo da Silva, had tried to advise the 71-year-old against digging the dangerously deep hole, however, the man was convinced that he would reach gold if he continued his search.
Mr Da Silva revealed that Mr Pimenta would even pay others to help dig the hole. He would increase the rate of pay as the hole grew deeper. Most recently he had paid others around $500 to assist in his efforts. According to Mr Da Silva, in recent days, Mr Pimenta was also thinking of getting dynamite to blow up a large rock that had been hindering the excavation.
"Joao had spent more than a year digging the hole and hired many people to do the excavating work. He began by paying 70 Brazilian Reais £11.30) a day when the hole was still shallow but the deeper he went the more the costs went up. He ended up paying around 495 Brazilian Reais (£80) to anyone who entered the hole and helped to remove earth. He had hit a large stone that appeared which was difficult to remove and there were rumours he had been talking about trying to get hold of dynamite," Mr Da Silva said as per the Mirror.
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The tragedy that led to Mr Pimenta's death occurred on January 5, as per the outlet. He suffered a fall of approximately 130 feet, which is as tall as a 12-story building. He was taken to a medical centre for an autopsy, where he was found to have suffered head injuries and broken legs as well as other fractures and was pronounced dead.
According to the Mirror, the 71-year-old is believed to have slipped and plunged to his death from a wooden platform near the top of the 35-inch hole as he tried to exit it following work to remove water and mud. A friend he was working with was unable to save him. The emergency services removed his body.
Officials are unsure exactly how long Mr Pimenta had been working on the hole.
