The 45-year-old man's back was bruised, his lungs were full of diesel and hydraulic fluid, and he feared pneumonia was setting in.
He laughed, swore and thought to himself: "God, is this how I'm going to die, in a fricking pond?"
The father of two fought panic as he digested his predicament of being pinned beneath an excavator on his remote property.
He tried to dig his way out, but it didn't work - he descended further. The water was up past his chin.
