The tractor crashed near a 30ft drop (Picture: SolarPix)
Police have arrested a ‘drunken’ German tourist who stole a £295,000 bulldozer before crashing it in Majorca.
The 26-year-old cheated death after overturning the 25-tonne vehicle on the edge of a steep drop at the quarry he broke into near his hotel, nearby Palma.
He was held after running to a nearby house covered in blood to seek help.
The quarry owners say the bulldozer is a write-off and are pressing charges against the holidaymaker who now faces a criminal probe and a compensation bill.
Police sources said today he was lucky to be alive as it overturned nearby a 30ft drop.
The privately-owned quarry had been shut since 1pm the previous day.
The bulldozer was taken from a nearby quarry (Picture: SolarPix)
It is not yet clear what the unnamed German was trying to do with the bulldozer, a W270 Fiat Hitachi, although sources said they suspected he might have been intending to drive it back to his hotel.
Officers said they were unable to confirm local reports the holidaymaker was drunk when he pulled off his stunt, but other sources claim he was.
A spokesman for the National Police in Majorca, confirming the arrest, said: ‘National Police officers in Palma have detained a 26-year-old German for entering a quarry and driving a bulldozer he ended up overturning, causing considerable damage to it and suffering injuries himself.
‘The incident happened around 7.30pm on Sunday in Playa de Palma.The man who ended up being arrested went to a private home for help saying he’d jumped over the quarry perimeter fence and taken the bulldozer before crashing it.
‘The quarry owner was also in that property when the police arrived and responded by calling for an ambulance so they could tend to the injured tourist before he was arrested.’
The firm the heavy machinery belonged to says it is going to have to buy a replacement, and the cost of it being out of service has been put at around £8,500 per day.
One source said: ‘Whatever the tourist was intending to do, it’s going to cost him a small fortune.’
The German has already appeared before a judge, although it was not immediately clear what the outcome had been.
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