June 10, 1999
Merseyside, England
Jon Desborough dies of complications after being impaled through the eye with a javelin
Desborough, a physical education teacher at Liverpool College, slipped while retrieving a javelin. The fall caused his head to impact the blunt end of the javelin, sending it though his eye socket and causing severe brain damage. Desborough was in a coma for three weeks following the accident and developed a chest infection on June 8, which led to his death.
Clipping: The Guardian (London, England) June 11, 1999