Man Buried Alive Saved By Air Trapped In Hat

Wang Jianxin is a Chinese construction worker. Walking from site to site one day, he happened upon a weak wall of a ditch. The wall collapsed, leaving Wang buried five meters beneath thick mud.

The miraculous part of the story is not that Wang survived. It's the method in which he utilized to stay alive.

A standard construction worker's uniform is not much more than gloves, work boots, and a simple plastic hard-hat. In this case, that hard-hat was able to save this worker’s life. The cheap plastic safety precaution was able to trap enough air beneath it’s solid surface for Wang to survive.

Knowing that panic increases heart rates thus increasing air intake, Wang kept himself calm throughout his whole ordeal. Mr. Jianxin, a practicing Buddhist, turned to the ways of meditation to help calm him, making sure only necessary amounts of his precious, small air supply were used.

Two hours after the wall collapsing, leaving Wang trapped, workers were able to dig enough to find the very top of his hat. Most were astounded at this, seeing as in similar cases, humans were not able to last more than five minutes while buried. Mr. Jianxin can truly say that his religion saved his life.

“I knew it would not last, so I made myself relax and concentrated on slowing down my breathing by meditation,” says Wang after rescued.