Idiot stag-do Brit arrested after becoming first person to survive swim over Hoover Dam’s deadly turbines
Forklift driver Arron Hughes, of North Wales, only escaped being dragged under during his 30-minute swim because nine of its ten turbines were off
A STAG-DO Brit cheated death as the first person to swim across the US’s Hoover Dam reservoir.
Arron Hughes went in to the water on a visit to the 725ft-high structure.
He escaped being dragged under during his 30-minute swim only because nine of its ten hydroelectric turbines were off.
Arron, 28, said: “It was so hot that as soon as we arrived I jumped in.
“Then I just thought, ‘Why not keep going?’
“I was sucked towards the wall and had to swim hard. At the other side I was exhausted. Then I heard police shout.”
The Hoover Dam, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, provides water and electricity for Las Vegas — but 275 people have died there in a decade.
But in the middle of a 37-hour booze bender, superhuman Arron, who fittingly has a Superman tattoo on his arm, paddled his way into the history books.
Forklift driver Arron, of Ruthin, North Wales, was handcuffed and fined £250.
The feat took him from Nevada to Arizona and took around half an hour.
Arron said: “I hadn’t planned swimming across and hadn’t told any of my mates that I was going to do it but it was so hot that as soon as we arrived at the top of the dam I climbed down the rocks and jumped in.
“Then I just thought: ‘Why not keep going?’
“I would say I was swimming about 50 to 100 metres from the wall of the dam and at one point I felt myself getting sucked towards it and had to swim away quite hard.
“When I got to the other side I was exhausted and had to sit down on the rocks. That was when I heard the police shouting ‘Oi, come here lad.’
“I was handcuffed and taken back to their office at the dam."
Cops watched in horror as Arron crossed the reservoir behind the iconic American structure – hailing him “the luckiest man alive”.