Man in China killed after neck gets crushed by 100kg barbell

A 25-year-old man in China died after his neck was crushed between the shaft of a barbell loaded with over 100kg of weights and the training bench he was lying on.

A harrowing, 29-second video on several news sites, including Malaysia's China Press, showed the man, identified only as Zhang, struggling to bench press over 100kg inside a gym in Wuhan, in China's Hubei province, without a spotter at around 3pm on Thursday (Sept 14).

He barely had the barbell over his chest and was trying to push it onto a J-hook when his arms gave way.

The shaft, with about 50kg on each end, rolled from his chest to his neck, pinning his head to the bench.

For about 25 seconds, he tried desperately to wrench himself free.

At one point, he tried removing what seemed like a weightlifting belt he had on. But he began having violent spasms and suddenly went limp.

It took more than a minute before someone noticed Zhang, according to China Press.

Two gym employees ran towards him to lift the barbell off him.

Zhang was rushed to a hospital, but he did not make it.

A representative of the Wuhan Pafik Fitness Club, where the incident happened, said Zhang was a regular, and that he had been seen at the gym before lifting heavily stacked barbells.

But it was not clear why Zhang had been bench pressing over 100kg without a spotter.

The police are investigating the incident, China Press reported.

This incident in Wuhan recalls a similar one in July when Justyn Vicky, 33, a fitness influencer in Indonesia, was killed while doing a shoulder lift with a barbell weighing close to 210kg.

Vicky was seen in a video falling to the floor on his buttocks, with the barbell still over his shoulder.

He had a spotter behind him, but the spotter was unable to prevent the barbell's shaft from rolling over Vicky's head, breaking his neck.

ALSO READ: Indonesian fitness influencer, 33, dies after breaking neck in barbell accident

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