STRANGE DEATHS UNUSUAL WAYS OF SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL
Waiting at the altar for his bride, Paul Wynn,
57, became breathless and slumped into a chair moments before Alison, 38, started to process down the aisle. Family and guests administered CPR and used a defibrillator on Wynn but were unable to revive him. The couple, who had been together for 21 years and had five children, planned to get married in July, but had bought the wedding forward to 25 June after Paul was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer and had been given between six weeks and two months left to live. “By the time I got to him I called his name a couple of times, [but] he didn’t turn round, he didn’t look at me and I realised there was something wrong”, said Alison, “If I had known we didn’t have long I would’ve tried to arrange the wedding for the beginning of the week.” D.Express, 3 July 2021.
At a Hindu wedding in Uttar Pradesh, India, the bride, named only as Surabhi, was exchanging garlands with the groom, Manjesh Kumar, when she collapsed with a heart attack and died. After doctors had failed to revive her and had pronounced her dead, the families met to discuss what to do and decided that the wedding should go ahead, with Kumar marrying Surubi’s younger sister Nisha instead. “It was a bizarre situation as the wedding of my younger sister took place while the dead body of my other sister was lying in another room,” said Saurabh, Surabhi’s brother. “We have never witnessed such mixed emotions,” Surabhi’s uncle Ajab Singh told News 18. “The grief over her death and the happiness of the wedding has yet to sink in.” Sun, 3 June; usatoday. com, 3 June 2021.
25-year-old Iraqi chef Issa Ismail was stirring a giant vat of chicken soup for a wedding party in Iraq’s northern district of Zakho when he slipped and fell into the boiling broth. He was pulled out by colleagues at the Hazel Hall for Weddings and Events and rushed to hospital in the nearby city of Dohuk, but he had sustained third-degree burns over 70 per cent of his body and died five days later. Independent.co.uk, 1 July 2021.
Marco Querino, 56, was hit and killed by a car driven by an 84-year-old woman on a busy road outside Rome as he tried to retrieve more than 1,000 euros in 50 euro notes that had blown from his car window into the road. Police are unsure how much money was involved in total as several other motorists stopped to grab the fluttering cash, but only one turned his haul in to the police. They also don’t know where Querino’s money had come from and why it was loose in his car. They are assuming he had just received it and had placed it on the dashboard. Times, 15 Mar 2021.
The Russian Orthodox Church has issued a set of approved procedures for expelling demons after a spate of deaths caused by DIY exorcisms. In 2019 a nine-year-old boy died after being gagged and whipped by his father to cast out a demon, while a middle-aged man was suffocated by his mother after she discovered his interest in the occult. In 2011, a 26-year-old woman died after being forced to drink five gallons (22.7 litres) of holy water by her parents when they became convinced her husband was the Devil. Patriarch Kiril of Moscow said that only spiritually strong clergy should carry out exorcisms. Times, 12 April 2021.
Eighteen people were killed by lightning on 11 July when taking a selfie atop a watchtower at the 12th century Amer Fort in Jaipur, one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. There were 27 people on the tower at the time and others were injured jumping to the ground. The day saw extensive thunderstorms and heavy rain across northern India and lightning caused nine more deaths in Rajasthan state, where Jaipur is located. At least 41 people also died in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, as well as seven others in Madhya Pradesh. Lightning strikes have killed on average 2,000 people a year in India since 2004, partly because the country has a large rural population who are working outdoors when storms strike. The number has doubled since the 1960s though, and it is thought that this is due to the increase in number and severity of storms due to the climate crisis. standard.co.uk, 12 July; nypost.com, 12 July 2021.
Geraldo Freitas of Araci, Brazil, was arrested as prime suspect after his friend Andrade Santana was shot and his body dumped in a river. He was, however, temporarily released from custody a week later in order to be a pallbearer at Santana’s funeral. Metro, 2 June 2021.