More than 270 election

officials in Indonesia died

fromexhaustion caused by

long hours andexcessive work

in sweltering conditions, counting

votes when about 80 per cent of

the country’s 193 million eligible

voters took part in a poll on 17

April – the first to combine the

presidential, parliamentary and

regional authority elections. Some

800,000 polling stations were

required to allow the country’s

diverse population to cast their

ballots across its 18,000-island

archipelago.Ten days later, 272

election officials had died and 1,878

others had fallen ill.BBC News, Sky News,

28 April 2019.

A factory workerwas decapitated by a lift

in India after she“absentmindedly” tried

to free her headphones that got tangled

in the lift’s collapsible grille as she arrived

for work on 27 May. The severed head of

SushilaVishwakarma, 48,was discovered

on the ground floor of the plastics factory in

Vadodara, while her bodywas in the lift that

travelled to the third floor. The headphones

were still in the ears of her detached head

— and a playlistwas running on the phone

in her hand.Indian Express online, nypost.

com, 28 May; thaivisa.com, 3 June 2019.

A 45-year-old motorcyclist from Charlotte,

North Carolina, died on 9 June when he

was struck by lightning and then crashed

on the I-95 highway inVolusia County,

Florida. A photograph showed the biker’s

shattered helmet with cracks and burns

from the bolt. Itwas unclear whether the

cause of deathwas the lightning strike or

the subsequent crash. Only 10 per cent of

those struck by lightning are killed. Since

2016, there havebeen 11 motorcycle-

related lightning deaths. Over the last

three decades, the US has sustained

anaverage of 43 lightning deaths per

annum, although since 2009 (for some

reason) theaverage has dropped to 27.

WashingtonPost, 10 June 2019.

Isabel Bytautas, 55,was killed when she

was struck by lightning in the Scottish

Highlands on 8 June. The healthcare

worker from Selkirk and six other

members of the Linlithgow Ramblers were

caught in a ‘fluke’ storm while climbing

a mountain ridge on Na Gruagaichean

(3,465ft/1,056m) near FortWilliam.

Another womanwas injured andwas in a

stable condition in hospital. “Itwas almost

like a bomb had gone off,” said a rescuer.

“Rocks and big clods of turf had

been uprooted and flung into the

air.”Times, D.Telegraph, 10 June

2019.

César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón,

51, a Mexican wrestler known as

Silver King, died mid-bout in the

ring at the Roundhouse, Camden

Town, northLondon, on Saturday

night, 11 May, after being pinned

by his opponent, Juventud “The

Juice” Guerrera. The former world

champion – who had appeared

as Ramses in the film comedy

Nacho Librealongside Jack Black in

2006 – had suffered a suspected heart

attack. The referee rolled him on his back

as he counted him out, not realising he

was seriously ill. Medics arrived within

five minutes, but hewas pronounced

dead at the scene. Gonzálezwas what is

known inlucha libre(“free fighting”, the

Mexicanversion of wrestling) as arudo.

Wrestlers, orluchadores, divide into two

main groups: therudosand thetécnicos.

The former are the bad boys, the“heels”

in American wrestling parlance, who bend

and break the rules. Thetécnicosare

the good guys, the“babyfaces”. A third

category, theexóticos, who are often

gay, bring camp flamboyance to the ring.

D.Telegraph, Sun,Eve. Standard, 13 May

2019.

Ehud Arye Laniado, 65, a short-statured

Israeli who founded Omega Diamonds,

based in Antwerp, died during penis

enlargement surgery at a private clinic

in the Champs Élysées on 2 March.A

substance injected into his virile member

caused a fatal heart attack. A friend of

the billionaire trader said hewas “always

focused on his appearance and how

others perceived him.” In 2015, Laniado

sold “the Blue Moon of Josephine”,a

12.03 carat blue diamond, in Geneva

to HongKong businessman and

convicted felon Joseph Lau Luen Hung

for £36.8million.dailymail.co.uk, 6 Mar;

Times, 7 Mar 2019.

On 27 April, ChutikarnWorachote, 54,

was bitten on the right foot by atakhap

(centipede) andwas taken to hospital in

NakornPathom, Thailand. Shewas given

an injection and medication and sent

home to recover. Her son said shewas in

great pain and therewas swelling around

the bite. She had an evening meal and

went to bed, but the following morning

her son went to rouse her but found her

dead.thaivisa.com, 29 April 2019.

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