Spontaneous Human Combustion -- Again!
An 82-year-old australian woman has possibly become the latest victim of the
mysterious spontaneous human combustion (SHC).
On 24 August 1998, Jackie Park picked up her
mother, Agnes Phillips, from the Chesalon nursing
home in the Wollongong suburb of Woonona, near
Sydney, Australia. Mrs Park liked to take her mother,
who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, out for the
day. About an hour later, she drew up by the 4
Square Store in Balgownie Road and left her mother
in the car as she was asleep. Minutes later, she saw
smoke coming from the car, followed by an explosion
of flames.
Passerby Bradley Silva managed to drag Mrs
Phillips from the car and put out the flames. The old
lady was remarkably calm throughout the ordeal, only
muttering "It's too hot, it's too hot" as her daughter
held her at the side of the road. She suffered "severe
and extreme" burns to her chest, abdomen, neck,
arms and legs. She was taken to hospital where she
died just over a week later.
At the inquest this April, NSW Fire Brigade Inspector Donald Walshe said he
could not determine where the fire originated. The car was not running; there
was no trace of liquid accelerants and no faulty wiring. Neither Mrs Phillips nor
Mrs Park were smokers and the maximum temperature in Wollongong on the
day of the fire was 16º Celsius. The coroner, recorded an open verdict.
Walshe said obscurely that spontaneous human combustion was ruled out
"because of evidence from previous cases and experience over the years.
This fire took place over a very short period of time and it does take a lot of
time for that scenario (SHC) to take place." Without witnessing an SHC case,
how on earth can he know how long it takes? Sydney Daily Telegraph, Courier
Mail (Brisbane), 9 April, South China Morning Post, 10 April 1999. |
