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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Chemistry Went Over Her Head

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Accepted into the Archive.
ORIGINAL SUBMISSION:

It was a cold but sunny February afternoon when Lidia Tsekova, a biology teacher from Sofia, Bulgaria was driving home with her husband and another woman back from a memorial service, dedicated to the latter woman's husband, who had died 40 days earlier.

Suddenly, the vehicle stopped and bystanders witnessed all three people dash out to a nearby manhole and started pouring down various liquids and powder from bottles and jars.

Apparently, Lidia had been doing some Chemistry experiments in her free time and had some dangerous substances left over. In particular, two of the substances were probably Diethyl Ether and Methanol, which are both highly flammable. The former is also used as a sedative, so the most likely explanation of the three people's actions is that they felt dizzy from the ether vapors and figured it would be a good idea to pour them in the sewer.

As it turns out, a good idea it was definitely not. The cocktail of flammable substances in the enclosed space of the manhole caused an explosion so powerful, that it launched the manhole cover into the air, which in turn decapitated the surprised Lidia. Left without a head on her shoulders she decides it's about time she kicked the bucket.

The other two people were not left unharmed, but were alive and taken to a hospital. Both had 5-10% burns, mainly on the face and after several hours in the operation room, it's unlikely that they will regain their eyesight, but hopefully they will be able to speak well enough to tell their children that trowing random chemicals down the drain is not as wise as it might at first appear.

Afterword: It is still not entirely clear exactly what all of the chemicals were that caused the explosion. Two of the bottles had said labels on them, but some suggest it was actually a sort of liquid explosive that Lidia prepared for an unknown reasons and for other reasons tried to dispose of. If that is the case, she is even more deserving of a Darwin Award, because she knowingly threw away an explosive in a fashion that is far from safe. Either way, she's dead and out of the gene pool for good.

Submitted on 02/06/2008

Submitted by: Georgi Stoychev
Reference: http://www.focus-news.net/?id=s1777 (Bulgarian news site) 02.02.08

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
We've already received this story once or twice but I think this is the best & most original writeup so far, so on that I'll definitely vote to pass this on for Darwin to see. Thanks, Georgi!


Chip said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Yes, this gives much more information and definitely shows that the others were not bystanders. Thanks, Georgi


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