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DEATH

Man dies after cleaning fluid served as wine

A man has died of massive internal burns after mistakenly being served undiluted detergent, which was being stored in an empty bottle of white wine.

Man dies after cleaning fluid served as wine
Andrés Lorente died after drinking cleaning fluid that had been served as white wine. Photo: fs999/Flickr

The 49-year-old man died of internal burns after drinking cleaning fluid he thought was white wine in the city of Benicarló in the Spanish province of Castellón.

Andrés Lorente was in bar Raconet, on Isabel de Villena square, for a Sunday afternoon drink on June 14th when he was served what he thought was a glass of white wine.

In fact the liquid he was served was cleaning fluid that had been stored in an empty bottle of wine and mistakenly been put in the fridge by a member of staff.

After taking a sip of what he thought was white wine, Lorente felt a burning sensation, according to local newspaper, El Periódico Mediterraneo. 

In an attempt to cool the burning sensation he felt in his throat Lorente drank water, according to witnesses, something which could have contributed to the corrosive effect of the cleaning fluid in his body.

An ambulance was called and paramedics tried to resuscitate Lorente on the scene, before taking him to Comarcal de Vinaròs hospital, where he died.

The director of the department of Gastroenterology at Castellón General Hospital, José Antonio Martín, warned that ingesting even a small amount of such a concentrated liquid can be lethal.

“It starts burning immediately,” he told El Periódico Mediterraneo, “if it is potent, it can burn and puncture the oesophagus and stomach.”

Lorente's body will undergo a post mortem to determine the cause of death, police sources told Spanish news agency, EFE.

The owner of Bar Raconet has been questioned by police and could face charges. He is due to appear before a judge on Tuesday. 

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NORWAY

Body found in Oslo flat nine years after death

A man lay dead in his flat for nine years before being discovered in December, police in Oslo have said.

Body found in Oslo flat nine years after death
Photo by pichet wong from Pexels

The man, who was in his sixties, had been married more than once and also had children, national broadcaster NRK reports.

His name has been kept anonymous. According to neighbours he liked to keep to himself and when they didn’t see him, they thought he had moved or been taken to assisted living.

“Based on the details we have, it is obviously a person who has chosen to have little contact with others,” Grethe Lien Metild, chief of Oslo Police District, told NRK.

His body was discovered when a caretaker for the building he was living in requested police open the apartment so he could carry out his work.

“We have thought it about a lot, my colleagues and people who have worked with this for many years. This is a special case, and it makes us ask questions about how it could happen,” Metild said.

Police believe the man died in April 2011, based on a carton of milk and a letter that were found in his apartment. An autopsy has shown he died of natural causes.

READ ALSO: Immigrants in Norway more likely to be affected by loneliness

His pension was suspended in 2018 when the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) could not get in touch with him, but his bills were still paid out of his bank account and suspended pension fund.

Arne Krokan, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said the man’s death would have unlikely gone unnoticed for so long if he had died 30 years ago.

“In a way, it is the price we have paid to get digital services,” he said to NRK.

Last year 27 people were found in Oslo, Asker or Bærum seven days or more after dying. The year before the number was 32 people. Of these, one was dead for almost seven months before being discovered.

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