US man sets himself on fire and cuts off his own arm

A farmer from Kershaw County, South Carolina was forced to cut off his own arm to free himself from a threshing machine he got trapped in and set fire to.

From the state of his stump, and the rusty machine, this happened some time ago but he's reliving the trauma for the internet today.

According to local news station WIS10, Sampson Parker got his hand stuck in his corn picker while trying to free a stuck corn stalk. The machine's rollers caught his hand.

Parker used a steel rod to jam the machine. This was initially successful, but in the end made things worse. The rod starting sparking and set fire to the machine in which he was jammed.

Parker said: "It was like a gasoline fire. My skin was melting and it was just dripping off like melting plastic. I got my pocket-knife and just jammed it in my arm and started cutting the meat off the bone, once I'd cut the meat it just dropped."

With his right arm now amputated he then drove to the nearest road where a passing firefighter stopped to help.

Parker told the local news reporter he feels no bitterness about what happened: "I had a prayer with God, with the corn picker and with me and just kind of made it easy, and made peace with it. Just thankful to be alive and to be here and do an interview with you."

The video is available from WIS10 here or the text version is here. ®