Following a storm that swept over the region, a city in southern Egypt found itself under siege from a swarm of scorpions that scurried into the community and stung more than 500 people. The unsettling incident reportedly began on Friday evening when torrential rains pounded the area around the city of Aswan, resulting in widespread flooding. As residents struggled to deal with the fallout from the inclement weather, they were soon faced with a more troubling problem as the storm caused the region's scorpion population to flee their underground burrows and take shelter inside people's homes.
On Friday night alone, a staggering 503 individuals were stung by the creepy creatures, causing the country's Ministry of Health to issue a warning to residents about the situation. Dozens of different scorpion species reside in Egypt, including two particularly troubling types: the fat-tailed scorpion, which boasts venom that can kill a person within an hour, and the nightmarishly named 'deathstalker,' which possesses a less-lethal sting, but one that can also kill children and badly sicken adults.
Fortunately, the region is familiar with the dangers that come from the deadly creatures that have called the area home for hundreds of years and, as such, ample supplies of antivenom were rushed to hospitals in order to treat the massive wave of afflicted people. Meanwhile, some enterprising individuals have found a silver, albeit very dangerous, lining to the influx of scorpions as people have now begun wrangling the deadly animals, since their venom is highly valuable to scientists and medical professionals.
Posts: 7324 | Location: the Centennial state | Registered: August 21, 2006
______________________________________________ “There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.”
"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
Side note...ain't no way in Hades I'm clicking on the news article link. Just don't wanna risk the chance of seeing pictures......
"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
Originally posted by copaup: Somebody in Cairo start a new construction project and take away all the straw?
The incident occurred in Aswan, over 500 miles south of Cairo.
_________________________________________________________________________ “A man’s treatment of a dog is no indication of the man’s nature, but his treatment of a cat is. It is the crucial test. None but the humane treat a cat well.” -- Mark Twain, 1902
Posts: 9424 | Location: Northern Virginia | Registered: November 04, 2005
