Sundaymail Editor
A fire outbreak that started from a nearby bush reportedly burnt over 400 corpses at the mortuary section of the General Hospital in Nigeria.
The burning bush started right behind the morgue and lasted about three hours. It eventually razed the mortuary building to ashes, including corpses.
The mortuary attendants were said to have called the state fire service after an attempt to douse the flame with water mixed with a detergent failed.
According to PUNCH, some families who had come to carry corpses for burial burst into tears when they saw that the mortuary was in ruins and burnt corpses littered the vicinity.
One of them, Charles Ozor, said: “We came to take the corpse of a community member for burial only for us to see that the corpses in the morgue had been burnt beyond recognition. We are confused; we don’t know what to do.”
An eyewitness also provided his account, saying: “The bush is a bit far from the mortuary. But before we knew what was happening, we saw that the roof of the mortuary had caught fire. There were over 400 corpses inside the building.
“The entire place was engulfed in fire. Before firefighters came, the fire had caused a lot of damage; most of the corpses were burnt to ashes and some beyond recognition. The firefighters battled to stop the fire from spreading to other buildings. In fact, the water in their tank was finished; they had to go and refill elsewhere because the hospital does not have a water facility on its premises.”
An auxiliary worker, who did not mention her name, told PUNCH Metro that the morgue had been contracted to a private operator.
Desperate refugee hides
in aeroplane’s wheel
It remains a mystery how a man who hid in the wheels of an aeroplane from South Africa’s Johannesburg to Amsterdam survived the over 11-hour trip.
Reports say Dutch police found the stowaway alive in the wheel section of a plane that landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport from South Africa.
Aside from the fact that flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam spend about 11 hours, the cargo plane which the fearless man hid under is believed to have made a stop in Nairobi, Kenya.
What makes the man’s case a mystery is the fact that due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes, stowaways mostly die during long trips, but he endured the harsh conditions for about half a day.
Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that the man’s body temperature was raised at the scene and by the time an ambulance arrived, he was able to answer basic questions. While his age and nationality are expected to be determined and announced after he regains good health, there is another question of whether he boarded the plane in South Africa or Kenya where it made a stop.
A spokesperson for freight carrier Cargolux is reported to have told Reuters in an email that the stowaway had been on a flight operated by Cargolux Italia. Flight data also revealed that the only Cargolux freight flight from Johannesburg to Schiphol on Sunday made a stopover in Nairobi.
Royal Dutch Military Police spokesperson Joanna Helmonds confirmed the bizarre occurrence to AFP news agency.
She said: “We were surprised upon finding this man but even more surprised at him being alive after the plane flew over 10 000 (kilometres) in very, very cold temperatures. The man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the plane and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
“It is quite remarkable that the man is still alive.”
Toddler goes on shopping spree
A toddler managed to spend £1 500 of his mum’s money after picking up her phone and ordering everything that was in her shopping cart.
Young Ayaansh Kumar grabbed his mum’s phone and thought it was great, hitting buttons and watching the lights change on the screen.
At 22-months-old, he probably had no idea what he was actually doing and his mum, Madhu Kumar, only found out when £1 483 (US$2 000) disappeared from her bank account.
Luckily the mum, from New Jersey, United States, saw the funny side and said his purchases may even have been helpful — if he had not ordered the same item several times.
Speaking to NBC New York, Madhu said: “He is so little, he is so cute, we were laughing that he ordered all this stuff.
“It is really hard to believe that he has done this, but that is what happened. I need one or two (items), why would we need four?”
In light of the expensive incident, the mum has said that she will be placing much tighter controls on all her devices to prevent any more of Ayaansh’s shopping sprees.
She added: “Moving forward, we will put tough passcodes or face recognition so when he picks up the phone he finds it in locked condition.”
They plan to keep a couple of the items as a memento of their kid’s mistake and return the rest to a nearby Walmart supermarket, where they have been told they will receive a refund.
The decor-loving tot had placed orders for accent chairs, flower stands and additional household items, with a number of them being so large that they could barely fit through the front door. — Wires.
Online Reporter