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Latest
 Two Mexican peasant farmers, cousins aged 70 and 85, argued for years over water rights and finally faced off in an old-fashioned pistol duel in the western state of Jalisco on 8 March. The bodies of Manuel Orozco and Candelario Orozco were found 11ft (3.4m) apart with one bullet wound each and the two handguns nearby. The cousins, who were also brothers-in-law, had long debated ownership of a water spring that Candelario used to irrigate a small corn plot near the town of Pihuamo . The disagreement began to get out of hand when a water pipe broke recently. Reuters 11 Mar 2004.
A 31-year-old computer game addict collapsed and died on 6 March at his screen in Chengdu in the western Chinese province of Sichuan, after playing the online game Saga for 20 hours, according to the South China Morning Post. He had Been playing the game regularly at the Internet cafe, where an employee said he would often play for more than 10 hours a day. The Press (Christchurch , NZ), 10 Mar 2004.
Boonreung Bauchan, 34, who set a world record in 1998 by spending seven days locked up with poisonous snakes, was showing villagers a new cobra in the north-eastern Thai province of Si Sa Ket on 18 March when a deadly mamba bit him on the right elbow. He took herbal medicine and a shot of whisky and continued with the show until he collapsed. An epileptic, he went into convulsions, but no one took him to the hospital initially as they thought he was having a fit. He died in Praibung hospital the following day. Reuters, Associated Press 23 Mar 2004.
A Russian who believed he was immortal after surviving a 10,000-volt electric shock in 1992 died after drinking anti-freeze. Dmitry Butakov, 42, invited journalists to Lipetsk to watch him survive the feat, but after his second half litre he collapsed into a coma and later died. London Eve. Standard, 31 Mar; Birmingham Eve. Mail, 1 April 2004.
Thavky chaiya, 68, died in northern Thailand after eating a large amount of durian, a pungent fruit can overheat the body's metabolism. Villagers told The Nation newspaper that he suddenly called for water and then fell to the floor convulsing. He died on the way to hospital. Sydney Morning Herald, 4 June 2004.
A 30-year-old swede died after being buried alive under a 13-ton pile of peas in a storage silo. He was working on an electrical installation on a farm near Mjolby in south-eastern Sweden when the peas were dumped on him. Rescue workers pulled him out but were unable to revive him. Reuters 14 Aug 2002.
A man at a fish sauce factory in the Vietnamese coastal town of Phan Thiet , 118 miles (190km) northeast of Ho Chi Minh City , fell into a sauce tank on 21 October 2002. Four other workers, including the man's wife, tried to rescue him but were overcome by fumes from the fermenting fish. All five lay at the bottom of the 7.2ft (2.2m) tank for some time before being dragged out. One of the rescuers, a 34-year-old man, died after being taken to the Binh Thuan hospital. Reuters 22 Oct 2002.
Seven Egyptian workers drowned in a vat of animal blood that they were cleaning up at a slaughter-house on 12 August 2003.
The bodies of the men, aged 18-40, were found at a farm in Qweirah, outside the Red Sea port of Aqaba in Jordan . After the first worker fell in, each drowned trying to save the previous man. "The blood was thick and filled with clots," said a farm manager, "making it difficult to swim." Associated Press 13 Aug 2003.
Victor Manola, 41, owner of Silver Sage Winery in Oliver , British Columbia , Canada , fell into a massive wine fermentation tank on 12 November 2002. His employee, winemaker Frank Supernak, 47, also fell into the tank while trying to rescue him. Both were overcome by fumes and drowned. The 500-gallon (2,270litre) tank was three-quarters full at the time and rescuers resorted to draining the tank and cutting off its top in order to retrieve the bodies. The Province ( Victoria , Canada ), 13 Nov 2002.
A prison cook died after falling into a cauldron of bean soup at Sri Lanka 's main prison. The 27-year-old man was knocked into the pot when another cook slipped on the wet floor. AFP 14 June 2003.
Rescuers found the frozen body of Virglio Mernadino , 57, buried under a mountain of frozen food that had fallen from five 5 0 ft (15m) high racks at the Versacold warehouse in Brampton, Ontario, on 23 August 2003. He had been working alone that day, stacking pallets. Five of the storage racks holding thousands of 16cwt (800kg) pallets were found toppled over, trapping Mernadino under ice. Associated Press 28 Aug 2003.
Shelves stacked 30ft (10m) high with garlic collapsed and killed l5 workers at a cold-storage warehouse in central China on 5 May 2004. The accident in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, buried more than 30 employees under a pile of garlic shoots and broken shelving. Nineteen were injured. Associated Press 7 May 2004.
Jean-Louis Toubon, 44, choked to death when pieces of his girlfriend's edible knickers got stuck in his throat in Marseilles , France . Sun, 22 May 2003.
A factory worker was scalded to death when half a ton of spinach soup exploded over him. Zacharia Conteh, 34, had the job of opening a giant pressure cooker and adding the milk and cream at the New Covent Garden Soup Company factory in Harlesden, west London . A safety device should have prevented him from doing so until the mixture had cooled. The father of two , from Deptford, died a month later in hospital. Sun , D. Express , 5 Dec 2002. |
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