16 December 2008

Man's body explodes during cremation

As [Wang Diange's] body was being put into the cremation chamber, it blew up spectacularly, bursting the doors off the oven.

When the fire had been put out, the only clue as to what had happened was a small twisted piece of metal, which seemed to be the glowing remnants of a screw.

At first, local metallurgists were unable to determine what it was, though they noted it bore a military serial number. After a lengthy investigation, however, it was suggested it might be part of a shell casing.

...the local weather bureau had been firing shells into the atmosphere... Inside the shells were silver iodide, a chemical that helps to break up hail into rain.

Their own investigators concluded that one shell must have failed to explode, hit the house, and lodged in Mr Wang's body...

(More details at the link. TYWKIWDBI remains a strong proponent of cremation rather than embalming and burial.)

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