A pair of off-duty New York firefighters tragically died on Thursday after one of them fell into a manure tanker on a cattle ... a human can die after taking fewer than two breaths.

Firefighters, upon arriving at the scene, acted quickly to prevent any fire outbreak. They immediately began wetting the accident site and the diesel-laden tanker to suppress any flammable vapours.

The accident occurred ... while firefighters were on standby with their fire engines in case of a fire outbreak. Agbakoba described the crash as involving both the tanker and the tipper.