No sunglasses are worth headfirst into a tank of feces for, as one man quickly learned in a recent incident that took place at a popular California campground. While this incident occurred states away, it serves as an important reminder for Coloradans using vault toilets in backcountry areas around the state this summer, as the mistake of trying to retrieve an item that’s plunged into the waste can come with a deadly risk.

At about 2:15 p.m. on June 20, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that someone was trapped inside of the holding tank of a vault toilet at Camp Edison near Shaver Lake. This is located about 35 miles northeast of the city of Fresno.

This type of toilet doesn’t come with plumbing, thus it essentially operates as a porta-potty that gets emptied periodically.

Deputies and firefighters responded to assist, along with a translator as the man who was trapped in the toilet only spoke Spanish. It was determined that the man dropped his sunglasses into the chemical solution in the tank and after several attempts to retrieve them, he eventually fell in and started yelling for help.

The man was in the tank for about 15 minutes before he was rescued, and while his exposure to urine, fecal matter, and chemicals resulted in the need for a decontamination process, he was otherwise unscathed.

Authorities noted that these tanks can be nearly impossible for someone to escape once they’re inside, which is a situation that has proven fatal in the past as the build-up of fumes from waste and chemicals can kill. In one infamous incident that took place in China, for example, a woman dropped a new phone into a similar toilet and when her husband went in to retrieve it, he was overcome by the fumes and passed out. His mother then went into the tank to help her son, but passed out, as well. The woman and her father-in-law then entered the tank, with two neighbors following them, as well. All six became trapped and after rescue, two people ultimately died and others needed medical treatment.

If you happen to drop something into one of Colorado’s vault toilets this summer, leave it. It’s not worth the potential life-or-death situation that could ensue if retrieval goes wrong. Always secure items prior to getting near one of these holes and note that sitting there while on your phone is ill-advised.

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