An emotional Frenchman was this morning freed from the toilets of Berlin’s Watergate nightclub after spending over forty eight hours trapped in a cubicle.
Jacques Bernard had been visiting the city with a group of work colleagues and was attending a techno event in the famous venue when he came into difficulty and found himself trapped in the cubicle. Vince Martin, a friend of Mr. Bernard explained the situation, “A group of us had been attending a business conference in Berlin since Monday. We decided to visit the nightclub on Friday night to wind down after a busy week. We had only been in the place a couple of minutes when Jacques disappeared. We thought he might have gone back to the hotel but when another member of our party went into the toilets and heard screams for help we realised he was in trouble.”
Mr. Bernard was trapped in the cubicle after a locking mechanism on the toilet door had become stuck in the locked position. He explained his ordeal, “I went into the toilets at around 11:30 on Friday night, usually I would just use the urinals but this time I needed a number two so I headed for the cubicle. Everything was fine until I went to let myself out. The lock had jammed and no matter how hard I tried, I just could not open it.”
“I thought somebody would come to rescue me but after a couple of hours without any help I knew I needed to do something. I started to scream and bang on the door and eventually one of my colleagues, who was in the toilet, heard me and raised the alarm. Staff came and told me they would do their best to help me but no one could figure out a way to open the door. I have been watching a lot of Bear Grylls lately so luckily enough I was able to make myself a nice stew using urine, toilet paper and some Tic Tacs I had in my pocket. I don’t know what would have happened if I had not learned survival skills like this, I’m lucky to be alive,” continued a relieved Mr. Bernard.
It was not until early on Monday morning that rescue workers finally managed to open the toilet door and free Mr. Bernard, who was then airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. Doctors say he is in a stable condition.
