An Australian TV director died in a strange gardening accident: he fatally cut his hand with a new chainsaw while trimming the hedges in his house.
John Clabburn, 52, who worked on Australian television series such as “Home and Away” and “Underbelly”, was clearing the tall coniferous hedge in his family’s home garden on the north shore of Sydney on the 6th. in April, when he cut his hand with a cordless saw he had just bought that day, his wife told the Daily Telegraph.
Clabburn fell from the ladder where he was, falling 10 feet to the ground, and ended up suffering a fatal cardiac arrest from the loss of blood from the severed hand.
“When I went out into the back garden, I was crawling on the floor with my stomach,” said Melissa, Clabburn’s wife. “There was so much blood on his torso.
“I kept getting towels to slow the flow, but the blood didn’t stop.”
“All he said was,‘ Call an ambulance now, ’” he said.
“For a minute we were admiring the straightness of the hedge and the great work he had done: he was so meticulous that he had a great eye for detail; the next, John was in an ambulance.
“He kept it together, but I know he would have suffered incredible pain,” he said.
Several of Clabburn’s industry colleagues have traveled on social media in the wake of the tragedy to honor his friend.
“The Nortons” actor Hunter Page-Lochard tweeted, “It was an honor to be able to work with you … To be the head of all heaven.”
Clabburn is survived by his wife and two children.
