A “radioactive man” suffered one of the most painful deaths in history, with his family insisting he be kept alive in pain.
On September 30, 1999, a tragic nuclear accident at the Tokaimura Nuclear Power Plant left Hisashi Ouchi with severe radiation exposure, marking one of the most painful deaths in recorded history.
Ouchi and his colleagues, Masato Shinohara and Yutaka Yokokawa, were instructed to mix uranyl nitrate in a large metal tank, despite reportedly having limited experience handling the hazardous material, per the Daily Mail.
This mistake led to an uncontrolled nuclear fission chain reaction, releasing dangerous radiation and gamma rays.
Ouchi, who was standing closest to the tank, received a staggering dose of 17,000 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation, far exceeding the exposure absorbed by his coworkers.
Shinohara and Yokokawa, stationed further from the tank, were exposed to 10,000 and 3,000 mSv respectively.
For Ouchi, this exposure marked the beginning of 83 harrowing days of suffering.
Following the incident, Ouchi fell unconscious and experienced immediate, severe symptoms: radiation burns, vomiting, and intense nausea.
He was quickly transferred to the University of Tokyo Hospital, where doctors discovered the extent of his injuries.
Ouchi had nearly no white blood cells left, compromising his immune system, and required extensive skin grafts and multiple blood transfusions.
As his condition deteriorated, Ouchi endured unrelenting pain.
His skin began to peel away, and his internal organs – particularly his liver and intestines – sustained extreme damage.
Despite medical interventions, his immune system could not recover.
During this time, he expressed profound distress to his medical team, reportedly crying out: “I can’t take it anymore! I am not a guinea pig.”
Despite Ouchi’s pleas, his family requested that doctors continue treatment.
On his 59th day of hospitalization, Ouchi suffered three heart attacks; however, his family insisted that he be resuscitated each time.
Ouchi ultimately succumbed to his injuries on December 21, 1999, at the age of 35, following multiple organ failure.
His colleague, Shinohara, also died of organ failure the following year at the age of 40. Yokokawa, however, survived after receiving three months of treatment for mild radiation sickness.
The accident’s aftermath saw Yokokawa and five JCO officials facing criminal negligence charges, to which all pled guilty in 2001.
JCO later paid $121 million in compensation for claims from 6,875 people and businesses affected by radiation exposure.
The company subsequently lost its credentials for operating nuclear facilities in Japan.
Featured image credit: Gregory Adams/Getty
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Teen tragically died on mom’s shoulder after eating meal of chicken and fries
By Nasima Khatun
A teen passed away after eating a meal while on vacation.
Lily King from the United Kingdom tragically died after consuming chicken and fries at a local restaurant while on vacation in Rabat, Morocco.
The 18-year-old, who had just completed her first year at Exeter University, was enjoying the trip with her mother Aicha, and on the last night, they decided to visit a restaurant they had gone to previously as they were sure that it could adhere to the teen’s dietary restrictions.
Lily was highly allergic to dairy, fish, shellfish, sesame, and nuts so the 56-year-old communicated this to the staff at the establishment, even telling them in Arabic so there would be no misunderstandings.
“I explained to him [the waiter] in Arabic three times ‘Please be careful, she is very, very allergic,” the devastated mom told the Daily Mail. “He says ‘Yeah no worry, we careful.'”
However, as soon as Lily started eating her meal, she suddenly began experiencing symptoms of an allergic reaction, gasping for air and vomiting.
“She got an itchy throat, which developed into sickness, stomach cramps, and breathing problems,” her father Michael told the outlet.
The teenager attempted to use her Epi-Pen once she was allowed to leave as it was reported that staff initially tried to stop her and force her to settle the bill even when her life was in danger.
“They delayed her from leaving the restaurant by a few minutes that could have actually saved Lily’s life,” he added.
Aicha said she was already worried about the meal when it arrived at the table as it had some extra elements to her original order – which was a simple grilled chicken and fries with no oil.
However, the waiter assured the pair that it was just extra vegetables that had been cooked in olive oil and there was nothing to worry about.
While the 56-year-old continued to deliberate with the waiter, Lily had allegedly taken a bite of the carrots on the plate and started feeling uneasy.
“I can’t breathe,” she told her mother and even after trying some antihistamines which are supposed to help relieve some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction, things continued to get worse.
“I started calling the ambulance and we went outside, so she can try to breathe,” Aicha recalled. “We [used] the Epi-Pen. But I left my bag inside the restaurant, and it had my passport and everything in it, I can’t leave it, and I went [inside] to get it back.
“I told the restaurant, ‘My daughter [is] dying outside.’ He said to me, to pay the bill before you’re leaving [sic].”
After giving them the money, the panicked mother ran back outside to her daughter who had already administered her second Epi-Pen but again, to no avail.
The ambulance she had called was also taking a while to arrive, so the mom took matters into her own hands and drove her child to the nearest facility, which took another 30 minutes.
In that time, Lily had taken her final breath, telling her mother “I love you, goodbye” before dying on her shoulder.
Lily had suffered a heart attack before having a catatonic fit which destroyed her brain function, leaving her brain dead.
“They kept her alive for three days and gave her another test and there was no brain function detectable, and we had to let her go,” Michael said, noting that he and his oldest daughter from a previous marriage had rushed to Rabat after hearing about the news.
“‘We told [the doctors] exactly what happened in the restaurant,” Aicha said. “But on the death certificate that was issued subsequently, they said her cause of death was a heart attack.”
The family is now seeking answers answers from the establishment, hoping to determine whether there was an allergen in the food or whether that had been some cross-contamination that led to Lily’s death.
Paying tribute to their daughter, Michael said: “Lily was loved by many, many friends. We had 60 or 70 of her friends and colleagues at the funeral, and they all signed a book of condolences, and they said the most marvellous things about her; how she was a shining light and made everybody laugh, and how she helped them with their problems.
He continued: “She was a very caring girl and very intelligent. With all her problems, she still managed to get to grammar school and get three A-Levels with grades for Exeter University to study Economics.”
The family is now raising awareness of the matter through their JustGiving page, hoping to fund more money into research on allergies.
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Creators of controversial suicide pod respond to claims first person to die using it was found with ‘strangulation marks’
By James Kay
The creators of the “suicide pod” have spoken out following claims that the first person to use it was found with strangulation marks.
As previously reported, the device known as the Sarco Pod, developed by Exit International and operated by The Last Resort, allows users to end their lives through a controlled release of nitrogen gas.
This induces a painless death through oxygen deprivation.
Dr. Philip Nitschke, an advocate for assisted suicide who has been dubbed “Doctor Death,” created the pod with the goal of offering a humane, drug-free method of euthanasia.
An American woman’s death has since led to an ongoing criminal investigation in Switzerland, after she became the first to die using the device.
According to Nitschke, the woman appeared to die peacefully.
“It looked exactly as we expected it to,” he said in a statement to Dutch media, adding: “My guess is that she lost consciousness within two minutes and that she died after five minutes.”
The woman died on September 23 in the pod and Dr. Florian Willet, who was reportedly the only person present at the time of her death, was detained at the scene alongside two lawyers and a photographer and remains in custody.
Authorities are probing the woman’s death, raising suspicions of potential foul play after forensic experts allegedly observed serious neck injuries, per Dutch media.
Despite The Last Resort’s description of the woman’s death as peaceful, forensic evidence led investigators to question the cause.
Chief prosecutor Peter Sticher, who was present with police and forensics on September 23, said: “We found the capsule with the lifeless person inside… and brought them to the Institute of Forensic Medicine. An autopsy will be performed.”
However, no official autopsy report has been released, raising further questions.
The woman reportedly suffered from skull base osteomyelitis, a painful bone marrow infection that, according to a source close to The Last Resort, could have caused neck marks resembling strangulation.
Friends of the woman told NZZ that she had struggled with debilitating pain for two years, experiencing severe headaches and limitations on mobility due to an immune disorder that made treating the condition challenging.
The Last Resort shared a statement made by the woman before her death, in which she said, “I have had a death wish for at least two years” due to her “very serious illness.”
The Last Resort and Exit International have insisted the unnamed woman entered the pod willingly and pushed a button, which filled the pod with nitrogen, euthanizing her as planned.
In a joint statement, they described chief prosecutor Peter Sticher’s allegation of “intentional homicide” as “ridiculous and absurd”, per the Daily Mail.
The Sarco capsule, created using a 3D printer, works by filling the enclosed chamber with nitrogen, replacing oxygen, and rendering the occupant unconscious within minutes.
A camera records the final moments, and the footage is provided to coroners.
The Last Resort noted that the device is meant to be a free alternative for those seeking assisted suicide, with the only expense being the nitrogen cost of approximately 18 Swiss francs.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.
Featured image credit: thelastresort.ch
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Russian court fines Google $20,565,635,200,000,003,000,000,000,000,000,000
By stefan armitage
In an unprecedented move that sounds straight out of a dystopian sci-fi movie, a Russian court has slapped Google with a staggering $2.5 decillion fine.
This eye-watering amount – some 2 undecillion rubles, which translates to $2.5 trillion trillion trillion – is the culmination of four years of penalties accrued for allegedly blocking pro-Kremlin content on YouTube, the RBC news website reported Tuesday (October 29).
And to help put that number into context, it looks like this when written out in full: $20,565,635,200,000,003,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Originally, the fine started at a mere 100,000 rubles back in 2020, following successful lawsuits by media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN, which had their YouTube channels restricted, The Independent reports.
However, the penalty has been doubling weekly due to Russian legal stipulations, reaching unearthly proportions.
The saga began intensifying in 2022 when Google took a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, restricting several other media outlets, thus accruing additional fines, as reported by the state-run news site RBC.
In response to the mounting restrictions, including a ban on new Russian user accounts and deactivation of AdSense accounts, Russian authorities seized Google’s bank assets, pushing the tech giant’s Russian subsidiary into bankruptcy, per Metro.
Despite these financial upheavals, Google’s free services like YouTube and Google Search are still operational in Russia, but online ads have also not been served to Google users in the country since March 2022.
The company addressed these challenges in its latest quarterly results, stating: “We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties.”
Google remains optimistic, however, noting: “We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”
And that’s very likely, as the $2.5 decillion figure, while legally noted, is purely theoretical — exceeding the total value of all assets on Earth.
This sentiment was mirrored in the stock market where Google’s parent company, Alphabet, saw its shares climb over 5% in after-market trading on Tuesday after surpassing third-quarter earnings expectations.
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‘Bizarre’ slimy orange blob found in canal leaves experts baffled
By stefan armitage
In something that looks like a scene straight out of a sci-fi flick, a bizarre and slimy orange blob has been discovered in a canal in Utrecht, Holland.
Just in time for the spooky season!
The discovery was made by vigilant volunteers who spotted the grotesque blob clinging to a floating island within the canal.
An image was later shared to an Instagram page dedicated to the ecological nature along the canal. “What!? This was hanging at the bottom of a floating island,” the caption read (translated).
And although this seemingly glowing dinosaur egg looks like a prop you’d find on the set of Jurassic Park or Stranger Things, the truth behind it is actually a lot more interesting.
As reported by the New York Post, the discovery is actually a living, breathing colony of Bryozoans — a group of slimy hermaphroditic creatures that band together to form what appears as otherworldly pods.
Local ecologist Anne Nijs shed some light on this eerie occurrence, which is unusual for The Netherlands. According to Nijs, these Bryozoans typically cluster into colonies, and it’s not uncommon for these colonies to merge into massive conglomerates.
“At a certain point they form a colony, and different colonies can then stick together again,” Nijs explained to AD. The result? A colossal gelatinous bag that can reach up to two meters in diameter, attaching itself to any sturdy fixture in the water.
These colonies can appear as large pods like the one above, or fans, bushes, and sheets.
Despite its size and strange appearance, Nijs reassured that these aquatic oddities are completely harmless to humans and to the surrounding environment (but they can cause a foul smell once they die off).
However, local experts have been left baffled, as the odd water creatures are not originally native to the Netherlands, per The Sun.
Originally from the East Coast of the United States, these microscopic marvels were documented as far back as 1883 in Germany, and have since been making appearances across Western Europe. “Since 1990 the species has appeared all over Western Europe and is spreading rapidly,” said Nijs.
Even Oklahoma reported a cluster last spring, sparking wild theories about “alien egg pods”.
What makes Bryozoans particularly fascinating is their reproductive ability. Being zooids with both female and male sex organs, they can clone themselves, contributing to their rapid spread across continents. With nearly 6,000 recorded species, these obscure beings could be lurking in waters near you.
“Wow, what a bizarre and oh so wonderfully beautiful natural phenomenon,” one Instagram user commented (translated).
Another cautiously asked (translated): “Have they been put back underwater?”
As Halloween approaches, this find in the Utrecht canal is just a little spookier that the hidden biodiversity of our planet is often scarier than any fiction out there.