A massive land invasion is allegedly underway at the N≠a Jaqna Conservancy in Tsumkwe West where members of the !Kung community of San people are left cut off from every opportunity to make a living by settling Oshiwambo farmers who reportedly fence off huge 36 square kilometre tracts of land fo...
A pill regularly prescribed to alleviate the side effect of certain medicines on the stomach lining is raking in huge profits on the black market and is sold for ten times the price than when obtained on prescription.
In the early morning hours of Tuesday 30 homeless people in the capital were forcefully rounded up by City Police officers from the streets.
KEETMANSHOOP Mayor Moses Titus has been pointed out as the overall problem at the beleaguered Town Council, taking decisions on his own and interfering with the day-to-day administration of the council.
Despite the development of a School of Medicine in Namibia and the lack of study opportunities in South Africa, Namibia is forced to fork out about N$1 billion to pay the Republic of Cuba to train 750 medical doctors and technicians in the next three years.
A massive land invasion is allegedly underway at the N≠a Jaqna Conservancy in Tsumkwe West where members of the !Kung community of San people are left cut off from every opportunity to make a living...
A pill regularly prescribed to alleviate the side effect of certain medicines on the stomach lining is raking in huge profits on the black market and is sold for ten times the price than when obtained...
In the early morning hours of Tuesday 30 homeless people in the capital were forcefully rounded up by City Police officers from the streets.
Despite the development of a School of Medicine in Namibia and the lack of study opportunities in South Africa, Namibia is forced to fork out about N$1 billion to pay the Republic of Cuba to train 750...
The lives of a newborn baby and mother were saved when the mother gave birth outside the Windhoek Central Hospital (WCH) on Tuesday, 14 May.
The Moclair Bed and Breakfast establishment on Tugela Street in Wanaheda, Katutura, is the latest to fall victim to a serial conman.
Less than a day after a front page article appeared in Informanté last Wednesday, dealing with fugitive André Mulder who was wanted by the Walvis Bay police for attempted murder and fraud, information...
| Body explodes in crematorium |
| Written by Floris Steenkamp | |||
| Thursday, 06 October 2011 00:22 | |||
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The cremation oven of Windhoek’s Crematorium has been knocked out in an explosion last week, after a battery of a heart pacemaker exploded during the cremation of the body of a deceased elderly male from Swakopmund, believed to be the late Helmut Spangehl. As a result of the explosion, a crack developed in the fire-resistant inner layer of the cremation oven. It took staff two days to cool down the oven so that they could enter it to assess the damage and a further three days to carry out the necessary repair work. “They have started again with our cremation work today,” a City of Windhoek official told Informanté on Monday on condition of anonymity. This official also admitted the bodies “became many” in the five days during which the crematorium was out of commissioning and that everyone over there were hard at work this week to “catch up.” Crematorium staff was not prepared to make any statements and referred all questions to the City of Windhoek’s public relations department. After further extensive inquiries the newspaper established that Dr. Reinhard Matheis of Swakopmund completed the necessary cremation forms of the late Spangehl. Information was omitted which should have indicated that the deceased carried a pacemaker. Informanté got in contact with Dr. Matheis who confirmed that “the patient” earlier consulted his colleague for a medical condition non-related to his heart. It was the patient’s first appointment at Matheis’ practice and the newspaper understood from Matheis that Spangehl did not disclose any information that indicated he had a pacemaker. When the doctor completed the forms for the deceased’s cremation there was no information at his disposal to know that the body contained such device. Informanté also established that the remains were transported from Avbob Windhoek’s premises to the Windhoek crematorium. Upon inquiries Avbob Namibia’s operational manager, Eslon Namuandi, confirmed he has knowledge of the incident but pointed out the body originated from a coastal undertaker without any facilities in Windhoek. “They merely used Avbob Windhoek’s facilities and the whole incident is totally beyond our control,” Namuandi said. He added that this is the first time in his career in the funeral industry that an incident of this nature occurs. The City of Windhoek source further explained: “The oven was heated on Sunday after the repairs were conducted” and that during the course of Monday the cremation of two bodies was planned. “Once the temperature of the oven reaches full capacity on the second day they will be able to cremate five or six bodies per day,” this official stated. The cremation oven operates optimally at 800 degrees Celsius. With regard to the explosion, a medical practitioner explained that a heart pacemaker is provided with a highly advanced battery that perpetually recharges itself during its lifetime. These batteries last for years and are part of the pacemaker that is implanted in the patient’s body. These batteries can cause a severe explosion if exposed to heat, according to the general practitioner and it is one of the reasons a doctor or coroner must indicate whether a deceased person’s body contains a pacemaker. “I can belief that the explosion would have caused significant damage,” this general practitioner agreed and said someone must have overlooked the fact that the deceased adult male had a pacemaker in life, causing this extraordinary catastrophe after his death.
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