Man falls into toilet at US camp ground, gets stuck in sewage tank while retrieving sunglasses

Talk about being in a “crappy” situation.

A man spent nearly 15 minutes submerged in sewerage after he fell into a toilet at a camp ground in the United States while trying to retrieve his sunglasses.

Officers from the Fresco County Sheriff’s Office and firefighters rushed to a restroom at Camp Edison in Shaver Lake, California, on June 20 after receiving a report that a man was trapped inside the holding tank of a vault toilet.

A vault toilet is a facility with no plumbing, which essentially operates like a porta potty or portable toilet.

In a Facebook post on June 23, the Fresco County Sheriff’s Office said they found out the man had dropped his sunglasses inside the toilet into a tank with chemical solution.

“In an attempt to retrieve them, the man fell several feet into the hole and began yelling for help,” the post said, adding that rescuers had brought along a translator as the man only speaks Spanish.

The man was finally pulled out from his foul situation after spending close to 15 minutes in the tank.

He was put through a decontamination process “due to his exposure to urine, fecal matter and chemicals”, the post said.

While it is not known if the man was able to retrieve his sunglasses, officials did say he was able to “walk away unharmed”.

Set up in 1963 in a pine forest on the western shores of Shaver Lake, Camp Edison is popular throughout the year for hiking, fishing and other watersports activities.

Netizens were having a field day commenting on the incident, with some saying they rather walk away than retrieve their lost items from a toilet.

“Well crap, that must have been an experience,” wrote Evan Bundy on Facebook.

Angela Rose said: “Can’t even imagine the smell and disgust in all that... I can hardly look in the tank let alone reach down for anything lost.”

Alan Ostergaard said he would not even attempt to pick up any items that accidentally fell into the toilet.

“If I dropped my US$700 Ray Ban prescription lenses in a porta potty, I would walk away and consider them gone, without giving it a second thought.”

This is not the first time someone has found themselves stuck in a hairy situation involving a toilet.

In September 2023, a woman was trapped in a Michigan outhouse after dropping her Apple Watch.

More recently in April, a woman visiting the Australian outback with her family endured a revolting wait for rescue after she plunged into a pit full of human excrement when the toilet floor beneath her gave way.