Boy burned as BlackBerry phone 'bursts into flames'

A schoolboy suffered serious burns after a BlackBerry smartphone appeared to burst into flames in the middle of the night and set fire to his bed.

 

Kian McCreath with his duvet that was set on fire by the exploding phone 

Kian McCreath, 11, fled from his bedroom screaming "my bed is on fire" after flames engulfed him while he slept last weekend.

His mother Sarah, 39, awoke to her son’s screams after the new BlackBerry device, bought as a gift for his brother, Mason, malfunctioned and spontaneously combusted.

The youngster was rushed to University Hospital Coventry with serious burns to his legs and feet after plastic stuck to his skin. He has been left permanently scarred.

The year 7 pupil said tonight: "It was really scary. I woke up with my legs in a fire at the bottom of my bed. I'm also having problems sleeping at night."

The family is now demanding the popular BlackBerry Curve 9320 mobile is recalled from shops in time for Christmas.

Tonight, local trading standards officials were investigating the incident, which occurred just after 2.30am last Sunday at the family’s home in Coventry, West Mids.

Research in Motion, the manufacturers behind BlackBerry, also confirmed that an internal investigation had been launched as “a priority”.

Kian’s father, Pete, a 39 year-old carpenter, bought the £13 a month mobile phone for his eldest son as a 13th birthday present, from a Vodafone shop in Birmingham.

No problems were reported for about a week. Mrs McCreath had placed the charging phone in the boy’s bedroom because it is used as an alarm just a few hours before it blew up.

She said that after going to sleep, she heard a loud “pop” sound, before he son started “screaming at the top of his voice, shouting ‘my bed's on fire’”.

They dashed into his room, to find the bottom of his duvet and mattress alight as Mrs McCreath frantically smothered the fire using a quilt.

Kian was immediately put in the bath to cool the burns before being rushed to hospital. Mrs McCreath, an administrative assistant, said her son has been left traumatised by the incident.

She said: “It was just horrific. He was in a lot of pain as his feet had pretty much been engulfed in flames.

"I ran into the room and started battering the flames with his brother's quilt to put them out.

"The bed was charred and the phone itself was just a blackened shell. It could have easily been much worse if he hadn't have woken up.”

She added: "If I had left the phone on the landing, the whole house could have gone up. You just don't expect this to happen with a mobile phone.

"You wouldn't think something so small could do so much damage – my son could quite easily have died. It sends a shudder down my spine to think what could have happened. “

"He hasn't been able to use his own mobile phone since and is having trouble sleeping. He is going to be scarred for life as well.”

She warned that thousands of children will be receiving the phones as Christmas gifts, so “parents need to be aware of the dangers before somebody dies”.

Mr McCreath added: "If Sarah hadn't acted so quickly that room could have gone up in flames within minutes.

"It was just lucky she got there so quickly. I'm shaking just talking about it.

"The phone... needs to be tested. A lot of kids are raving about that Blackberry phone right now. My main concern is for the safety of other kids.”

A spokesman for Birmingham City Council's trading standards office said: "We have received a complaint and we are going to investigate the matter."

The family have since contacted Trading Standards, who have urged them to keep the mobile as evidence, while McCreath has held a video conference with RIM officials over his concerns.

A spokesman from Research in Motion said: "We take claims of this nature very seriously and are investigating this matter as a priority." She declined to comment further.

Blackberry devices were the biggest selling smartphones in Britain last year.

Music graduate gets job as human scarecrow

A student who graduated university with a degree in music and English is putting his skills to good use in a Norfolk field, after being employed as a human scarecrow.

Jamie Fox will use a ukulele, accordion and cowbell to frighten away troublesome partridges

Jamie Fox, 22, who recently graduated from Bangor University, will use a ukulele, accordion and cowbell to frighten away troublesome partridges.

While his fellow students may be pulling pints, going travelling or desperately seeking their first professional role, Mr Fox will earn £250 a week patrolling the ten-acre field.

Wearing a bright orange coat, he will play the musical instruments in a bid to finally scare off the hardy birds, which were unperturbed by ordinary scarecrows.

His employer, a farmer from Aylsham, Norfolk, even warned him to “bring a deckchair and a good book” for his days in the oilseed rape field, where he will also practice his ukulele in the hopes of getting a full-time job in music.

Mr Fox, who says his friends are “slightly envious” of his role, is now saving to pay for a trip to New Zealand next year.

"I get to sit and read for a lot of the time but whenever I see the partridges, I have to get up and scare them off," he told the BBC.

“I ring a cowbell and I've even played the accordion, but the ukulele doesn't seem to have any effect on them.

"The farmer said to me, 'Bring a deckchair and a good book'. A couple of my friends in busier, more generously-paid jobs, are slightly envious.”

Farmer William Youngs said he resorted to his human scarecrow after partridges were not put off by more ordinary methods of frightening them away.

"The only way to get rid of them is to walk down the field and push them off," he said. "Jamie's doing a good job. You can really see the difference."

Has the Loch Ness monster finally been caught on camera?

A monster hunter who has spent 26 years searching for the Loch Ness Monster claims to have taken the "best picture ever" of the beast, after dedicating 60 hours a week to his quest.

Nessie hunter George Edwards waited 26 years for this moment - and he now believes he has the best picture ever taken of the Loch Ness monster.

He spends his life on the loch - around 60 hours a week - taking tourists out on his boat Nessie Hunter IV, and has led numerous Nessie hunts over the years.

But this image is the one that's convinced him that there really is a monster or monsters - out there. It shows a mysterious dark hump moving in the water towards Urquhart Castle.

"I was just about to return to Temple Pier (in Drumnadrochit) and I went to the back of the boat which was facing the pier and that's when I saw it," said 60-year-old Mr Edwards, a lifelong believer in the monster.

"It was slowly moving up the loch towards Urquhart Castle and it was a dark grey colour. It was quite a fair way from the boat, probably about half a mile away but it's difficult to tell in water."

After watching the object for five to ten minutes, Mr Edwards said it slowly sank below the surface and never resurfaced. "I'm convinced I was seeing Nessie as I believe in these creatures.

Far too many people have being seeing them for far too long," he said. "The first recorded sighting was in 565AD and there have been thousands of eye witness reports since then.

"All these people can't be telling lies. And the fact the reports stretch over so many years mean there can't just be one of them. I'm convinced there are several monsters."

Steve Feltham, who has dedicated the past 21 years to hunting for Nessie was unequivocval.

"It is the best photograph I think I have ever seen," he said.

From his base on Dores beach and has studied many Nessie sighting photographs.

"I think the images are fantastic - that's the animal I have been looking for all this time," he said yesterday.

"I would say it doesn't prove what Nessie is, but it does prove what Nessie isn't, a sturgeon which is a fish that has been put forward as one of the main explanations as to what Nessie could be but this hasn't got a serrated spine like the sturgeon.

Mr Edwards his vessel's sonar to make a contact but to no avail. "I hung around for a good half-an-hour and used the deep scanning sonar to try and pick it up, but I'm afraid I had no luck at all."

Mr Edwards took the photo at 9am on 2nd November last year on a compact Samsung digital camera that he always keeps on the boat.

Before releasing it publicly he sent it to the USA for analysis, though he can't reveal further details.

"I did not want to mention my sighting until I was sure that I had not photographed a log or something inanimate in the water in the water," he said.

"I have friends in the USA who have friends in the military.

"They had my photo analysed and they have no doubt that I photographed an animate object in the water. I was really excited as I am sure that some strange creatures are lurking in the depths of Loch Ness."

Netherlands councillors call for fines for wrong weather forecasts

Local councillors in the Netherlands are calling for weather forecasters who get their predictions wrong to be fined.

The demand comes from Labour councillors in Hoek van Holland who say that "bad" forecasts are spoiling the local seaside trade.

It follow claims that wrong forecasts in both the Netherlands and Belgium are damaging outdoor attractions as day trippers cancel plans to go out because of poor weather prospects.

Joep Thonissen, head of Recron, the Dutch tourist attraction association, said "incorrect" forecasts were causing "considerable damage" to visitor attractions.

He said, "Last week it was really good weather over most of the country but the weather forecasts were full of heavy rain and thunderstorms, so people stayed home."

KNMI, the commercial weather bureau, based at Hilversum, near Amsterdam, whose forecasts are widely used by Dutch TV and newspapers, has been blamed with Mr Thonissen saying: "Heavy rain above Hilversum does not mean that is the case in the rest of the country."

Pieter van Cutsem, who runs a small hotel in Hoek van Holland, agrees that forecasters should be "punished" for incorrect predictions,saying: "Despite having more forecasting tools than ever before they often get it wrong.

"Recent weather reporting has been completely inaccurate and it is hitting local businesses dearly because people are cancelling bookings. I agree they should be fined on the grounds of disseminating incorrerct information."

Cees Molenaars, a spokesman for KNMI told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: "TV, radio and newspapers use the raw data we deliver but it is up to them to how their forecasts turn out."

Last week, tourist attraction bosses in Belgium called for "less pessimistic forecasts" and urged meteorologists to pay as much attention to sun as they do to rain.

French cows reared on fine wine

French cows are enjoying up to two bottles of high quality wine every day as farmers attempt to produce the best beef in Europe.

Jean-Charles Tastavy, who came up with the idea, said the two Angus and one Camargue were initially fed the wine in a mix of barley, hay and grapes

The extraordinary development has seen a 'Vinbovin' label of meat established which is already being championed by some of the best restaurants in Paris.

It follows an experiment in Lunel-Viel, in the southern Herault region of France, which saw three cows fed local wine for four months.

Jean-Charles Tastavy, who came up with the idea, said the two Angus and one Camargue were initially fed the wine in a mix of barley, hay and grapes.

It soon became clear that they were 'happy cows' who ended up producing an exceptionally succulent meat.

Outlining how he encouraged the cows to enjoy a tipple, Mr Tastavy said: "For each animal, alcohol intake should be equivalent to the amount recommended by health authorities for a man – namely two or three glasses of wine a day. In the case of cows, this amounts to between a litre and a litre-and-a-half a day."

After a rough mix of grapes and water, the cows were allowed wine from Saint-Genies des Mourgues, a Languedoc village near Montpellier renowned for its vineyards.

"The cattle loved what was on the menu and drank it with relish," said Claude Chaballier, owner of the farm where the experiment started last year.

Referring to the Muscat grape, Mr Chaballier added: "I thought that next time we may try Muscat so as to give the meat a more musky taste."

Laurent Pourcel, a Michelin-starred chef, is among those enthusing about the 'luxury meat' saying: "It has a very special texture – beautiful, marbled and tender, and which caramelises during cooking. All the best Parisien restaurants will take it."

Japanese Kobe beef, which is made with beer, is currently considered among the best in the world, but the possibility of cows enjoying vintage wine will guarantee an even more luxurious product.

There is a down side, however: the introduction of wine into the feed of the Lunel-Viel cows tripled the cost of their feed, adding up to £80 to the cost of a prime beef cut.

Indonesian smoking orang-utan to kick the habit

Tori is a teenager with a bad habit. The 15-year-old orang-utan has been smoking cigarettes at an Indonesian zoo for a decade, but she’s about to go cold turkey.

Tori the smoking orangutan inside her enclosure at a zoo in the central Java town of Solo 

Zookeepers said on Friday that they plan to move Tori away from visitors who regularly throw lit cigarettes into her cage so they can watch and photograph her puffing away and flicking ashes on the ground.

The primate mimics human behavior, holding cigarettes casually between her fingers while taking long drags and blowing bursts of smoke out her nostrils to the delight of visitors.

Taru Jurug Zoo director Lili Krisdianto said the move was aimed to protect four endangered orangutans at the 14-hectare (35-acre) zoo in the Central Java town of Solo.

Results of a medical test are expected Saturday to determine how much Tori's smoking has affected her health, said Hardi Baktiantoro of the Borneo-based Center for Orangutan Protection, which is helping to coordinate the intervention. A mesh cover will initially be placed over Tori's cage, and later she will be moved to a small island away from the public, he said.

Several Indonesian zoos have come under scrutiny following animal deaths, including a giraffe that died in the long-troubled Surabaya Zoo in March with an 18-kilogram (40-pound) ball of plastic in its stomach after years of ingesting trash thrown into its enclosure by visitors.

Indonesia is also one of the last remaining countries where tobacco companies face few restrictions on selling, advertising and promoting products long banned elsewhere.

More than 60 percent of all men light up and a third of the country's entire population smokes.

Lifeguard sacked after saving drowning man outside his beach patrol

A young lifeguard in Florida has lost his job after rescuing a drowning man in a section of beach he was not assigned to patrol, local news media reported on Wednesday.

Tomas Lopez, 21, fired for helping drowning man 

Tomas Lopez, 21, was manning his post on Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, on Monday afternoon when a beachgoer alerted him to a swimmer struggling in an "unprotected" part of the beach.

"It was a long run, but someone needed my help. I wasn't going to say no," said Lopez, quoted by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

The unidentified man was rescued, then rushed to hospital where he remains in intensive care. But when Lopez went to file an incident report, he was fired for going 500 yards out of his assigned area.

"They didn't tell me in a bad way. It was more like they were 'sorry, but rules are rules,'" Lopez said. "I couldn't believe what was happening."

"We have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area," explained a supervisor for the private contractor that supplies lifeguards for Hallandale Beach, a popular destination for Canadian winter holiday makers.

"What he did was his own decision. He knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do."

No longer in a job that pays $8.25 an hour, Lopez said he would do what he did again if he had to. "It was the moral thing to do," he said. "I would never pick a job over my morals."

Coastguard pilot suspended for using helicopter to pick up steaks from Orkney butcher

The pilot of a coastguard helicopter has been suspended after flying to an island at the end of a training exercise to collect fillet steaks from his favourite butcher.

The crew of the Shetland Coastguard aircraft flew 85 miles from their base to pick up £400 worth of prime cuts on the unscheduled shopping trip to Orkney.

The incident came to light after a video of the helicopter landing in a field was posted on YouTube.

Mobile phone footage, since removed from the site, showed two crewmen collecting a bag of beef from several butchers who were there to see the landing.

The aircraft touched down in a field near ER & T Craigie, a butcher based at Tankerness on the east mainland of Orkney.

CHC Helicopter, the operator of the aircraft, has launched an inquiry and confirmed that the pilot had been suspended.

A spokesman said the training exercise had been completed before the landing, and any costs incurred would be met by the company, not the taxpayer.

She added: "We expect high standards of professionalism from all our employees and if we find these have not been met, we will take the appropriate action.

"While the aircraft was previously engaged in a training exercise, it was operating a non-revenue flight at the time of the incident in question."

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it had asked CHC to investigate as a matter of urgency and regarded any misuse of its assets as "completely unacceptable".

Meanwhile, Thorfinn Craigie, 38, the butcher at the centre of the incident, said he was horrified to learn that the pilot had been suspended, and pointed out that the aircraft had been "in the area" at the time.

He also revealed that it was the second time a helicopter had landed to collect premium meat.

He added: "They normally land about two miles away at Kirkwall Airport and they wanted us to meet them at the airfield. But I told them that since I own the land behind the butchery shed, they could land there.

"One of the crew said that would be great because they have to train to do drops in rough areas.

"So they did it last month and did it again on Monday. They love our meat and came back for more. It was all good cuts. Fillet steaks and roasting joints of silverside."

Mary Scanlon, the Highlands and islands Conservative MSP, said Orkney meat was world famous for its quality, adding: "The Shetland Coastguard are obviously aware of this, but next time they fancy some of it they should consider vacuum-packed mail order, and not use life-saving training time for a shopping trip."

'Eggless' chick laid by hen in Sri Lanka

The "eggless" chick has survived, but the mother has died

A Sri Lanka hen has given birth to a chick without an egg, in a new twist on the age-old question of whether the chicken or the egg came first.

Instead of passing out of the hen's body and being incubated outside, the egg was incubated in the hen for 21 days and then hatched inside the hen.

The chick is fully formed and healthy, although the mother has died.

The government veterinary officer in the area said he had never seen anything like it before.

PR Yapa, the chief veterinary officer of Welimada, where it took place, examined the hen's carcass.

He found that the fertilised egg had developed within the hen's reproductive system, but stayed inside the hen's body until it hatched.

A post-mortem conducted on the hen's body concluded that it died of internal wounds.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says that the story has made headlines in Sri Lanka, with the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror's concluding: "The chicken came first; not the egg."

Hands-free umbrella to help battle April showers

A hands-free umbrella designed to withstand winds of up to 50mph could help cyclists battling through April showers.

The new hands-free Nubrella umbrella resembles a bubble wrapped around the wearer's head and shoulders and is designed to resist winds up to 50mph

The Nubrella, which resembles a bubble wrapped around the user's head and shoulders, works by strapping on a shoulder support and extending a canopy around the head.

Weighing just over 1kg, it costs £40 and comes in either black or see-through style.

Inventor Alan Kaufman, 49, from Florida, said: "The major advantage is the wearer doesn't have to carry anything when not in use as it goes behind the head like a hood.

"The umbrella was long overdue for some innovation, now people can ride their bikes and work outdoors completely hands free while staying protected.

"Millions of people are required to work outdoors no matter what the conditions are and simply can't hold an umbrella and perform their tasks.

Woman sells three-year-old Chicken McNugget for $8,100

A Nebraska woman has sold a three-year-old McDonald's Chicken McNugget that resembles President George Washington for $8,100 on eBay.

The McDonald's Chicken McNugget found by Rebekah Speight of Dakota City, which she believes resembles President George Washington

The Sioux City Journal in Iowa, USA, says bidding ended on Monday morning.

Rebekah Speight of Dakota City sold the McNugget to raise money for a drive to raise $15,000 and send 50 children to summer church camp in Sioux City. She did not disclose who won the auction.

Ms Speight says her children didn't eat the chicken during a McDonald's visit three years ago. She was about to toss it, then spotted Washington's resemblance. Ms Speight stashed the McNugget in her freezer.

eBay had temporarily taken down the auction last month because it violated rules regulating expired food.

She later received an email saying the site was "willing to make exceptions to help your cause."

On the auction page for the McNugget Ms Speight wrote: "Approximately 3 years ago, I treated my children to “99 cent McNugget Tuesday” and play time at our local McDonald’s. As I was cleaning up, I noticed one particular nugget and began to laugh. I picked it up for a closer look, and sure enough it was in the likeness of President George Washington. I decided to take it home and show my husband this hysterical find.

"When he arrived home, I pulled it out of the freezer and he could not believe his eyes. We shared a moment of laughter as we joked about putting it on eBay. Then back in the freezer it went.

"The students of Family Worship Center in Sioux City, Iowa are in the process of trying to raise $15,000 for Church Camp this summer. My husband and I felt led to auction this “President George Washington Chicken McNugget” as part of our fund-raising effort. 100% of the money raised will go to Family Worship Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

"By bidding on this rare “President George Washington Chicken McNugget” … not only will you have an opportunity to be the new owner of this rare find, but you will be investing in the lives of children."

Woman who weighed more than entire family loses 31 stone

One of the fattest women in Britain - who weighed more than her whole family put together - has lost 31 stone.

Marie Eaton, one of the fattest women in Britain - who weighed more than her whole family put together - has lost an incredible 31 stone.

Marie Eaton, 42, tipped the scales at 50 stone two years ago - five stone more than her husband and four children combined.

But after undergoing a rapid weight loss regime, she has shed an incredible 31 stone - more than the weight of all four of her offspring put together.

Marie, a housewife from Newark-on-Trent, Notts, said: "At my heaviest, I couldn't even get up the stairs - I was forced to sleep on the sofa.

"I'd drink litres of fizzy drinks and eat £40 of takeaway in a single sitting on my own at least four nights a week.

"But around my 40th birthday I remember seeing myself in the mirror and thinking my body was close to giving up.

"I knew that I had to change otherwise I'd leave my children motherless."

Marie had piled on the pounds after her mum tragically died in her arms from a heart attack.

She bulged from a petite nine stone 16-year-old to 50 stone on her 40th birthday after comfort eating to cope with the loss.

Her constant scoffing lead to her becoming one of Britain's fattest women - rendering her completely house-bound and suffering from agoraphobia as a result.

Marie explained: "I was normal weight up until I was sixteen. But then my mum died, and it hit me really hard.

"She died of a heart attack in my arms. She was with us one minute and gone the next.

"From that moment onwards I comfort ate. It was my way of coping with the trauma of it all.

"It just spiralled from there. My social life diminished as I hid myself away.

"I was so ashamed, I stayed at home and became agoraphobic. I knew that the sofa wouldn't collapse beneath me unlike chairs in public.

"I couldn't be embarrassed about my weight if I was locked away at home out of sight."

But after her partner Paul, 36 - who she met in an online chat room - proposed, she embarked on a rapid weight loss regime in time for the wedding.

In just two years she shed a whopping 31 stone - the same weight as her four children Alice, eight, Emily, 11, Lucy, 12, and Adam, 15, together.

Marie said: "Paul proposing to me focused my mind and gave me that incentive to lose weight. I didn't want to look horrendous in my lovely white wedding dress.

"I used that and my fear of my children growing up motherless to stop eating junk food and turn my life around."

Marie instantly went on a crash diet, restricting herself to just 800 calories a day.

She binned the two litres of fizzy drinks, endless supplies of multipack crisps, six chocolate bars and two sausage rolls a day and replaced them with salads, white meat and water.

After losing 15 stone through the diet, doctors advised her to have a gastric sleeve - cutting her stomach's size by 25 percent - in a bid to prevent her returning to her old ways.

With the help of a personal trainer and gruelling fitness regime, the pounds continued to slip off, losing a further 16 stone.

And as she walked down the aisle on November 5, 2011, Marie weighed just 21 stone. After continuing to workout she now weighs just 18 and a half stone.

A jubilant Marie added: "Every woman wants to look a million dollars on their wedding day, and I was no different. It became an obsession to lose the weight in time.

"Changing my diet has been the biggest difference. Just not snacking and switching my food types has helped me shed most of my weight.

"I got a personal trainer and slowly but surely the pounds just fell off.

"At the wedding I weighed well over half what I did at my worst.

"Family members who hadn't seen me for a while, were gobsmacked - they barely recognised me.

"They thought they were at the wrong wedding. It made me feel so proud.

"I'm loving life again and have started up a group to help other people looking to lose weight. I want to share my experience and help others."

Woman eats 4,000 washing-up sponges

A woman has told how a rare disorder has led her to eat more than 4,000 washing up sponges.

Kerry Trebicock has an addiction to washing up sponges 

Kerry Trebicock has an addiction to washing up sponges  

Kerry Trebilcock, 21, suffers from a condition called pica, which causes victims to crave non-edible objects.

The disorder has also caused her to eat more than 100 bars of soap.

Miss Trebilcock, a dental nurse from Mylor, Cornwall, told The Sun: "One day I will beat this and be able to have a shower or do the washing up without feeling hungry.

"I have been very particular about the type of sponges and soaps I'd eat and how I'd prepare them.

"If I went out for the day I'd carry a small plastic bag of cut-up pieces of sponge with some tomato and BBQ sauce in Tupperware. I was never without a 'snack'."

Other sufferers eat metal, coal, sand, chalk and sometime even lightbulbs and furniture.

Miss Trebilcock, who weighs just 8st, has endured stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhoea as a result of her disorder.She also eats "normal food" and is trying to curb her cravings with Floral Gum sweets.

She added to the newspaper: "I am making progress and speak to other sufferers of pica on internet forums, which helps."

Occupy movement spreads to Beijing lavatories

A Chinese student is hoping to become a heroine for women around the world by launching an Occupy movement of her own – in the men's lavatory – in protest at waiting times.

A female Chinese student holds a banner and protests in front of a public toilet calling for more cubicles for women during an Occupy Mens Toilet movement in Guangzhou city, south Chinas Guangdong province, 19 February 2012

Fed up with long queues for ladies, Li Tingting led 20 women into a men's public bathroom in the southern city of Guangzhou carrying colourful placards calling for equal waiting times for both sexes.

Now, she plans to take her protest to the capital Beijing, where China'sleaders will gather next month for the annual meeting of the country's rubber-stamp parliament.

"We want senior officials to pay attention to this issue," she told AFP. "It is a big issue for many women. During the protest in Guangzhou, we conducted random surveys and found that the majority of people supported us."

Local media reported after the protest that provincial officials in Guangzhou had responded by agreeing to increase the number of women's lavatories by 50 per cent – a pledge Li says should be taken nationwide.

The issue has sparked a debate on the internet, although not everyone is impressed by the protest.

Chinese 'ghost bride' sold twice into marriage

A woman in China was sold twice into marriage within days, despite both she and the grooms being dead.

Traditional Chinese wedding: In China they believe in ghost marriages, which is a superstition that sees dead bachelors married off so they can wander the afterlife together

The woman, from China's Hebei Province, near Beijing, died over the Lunar Year holiday, according to the Global Times.

But her family decided to sell her for a "ghost marriage", a superstition that sees dead bachelors married off so they can wander the afterlife together.

Despite Mao Tse Tung attempting to stamp out the practice after he and the Communist Party came to power in 1949, the black market for 'corpse brides' continues to thrive today.

In this case, the family sold their dead daughter, receiving 35,000 yuan (£3,500), where a spirit wedding was conducted. The two were then buried together.

Grave robbers however dug up the brides body, and were caught by police marrying her off to a dead bachelor in another town for 30,000 yuan, it was claimed.

In 2007, a man was arrested after killing and then selling six women, claiming that "killing people and selling their bodies is less work than stealing them from graves."