Surely, stuff like this must happen all the time, but finding mysterious breaking news reports like this one still always give me the heebie jeebies.
The report, headlined “Dead Body Remains in Truck; Identity Still Not Known,” comes from WPBF in the West Palm Beach, Florida area and was picked up by national wire services when there had been a dead body found inside “a suspicious bag,” two sick people were found in the vehicle, suffering from exposure to an unknown agent — which then sickened four firefighters. It turns out it’s a pesticide truck, which makes it all slightly less mysterious. But the agent is still unidentified.
It all started yesterday at 7am, with this creepy WPBF report:
Firefighters Exposed to Substance While Treating Victims
Four firefighters were treated and released from a hospital after being exposed to a mysterious substance in a truck on the side of Interstate 95 that also sent a man and a child to hospitals.
West Palm Beach Fire Rescue crews responded to a medical call on the side of northbound I-95, just north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, shortly after 7 a.m. Monday.
When rescuers arrived at the scene, they found a man unconscious on the ground and a dazed 10-year-old boy, Battalion Chief Marty Palermo said.
“He really wasn’t able to give them too much information,” Palermo said. “He was saying, ‘The can’s in the car. The can’s in the car.'”
[Link.]
After the man and the boy were identified, they were taken to two different hospitals and placed in decontamination tents. They were both later reported to be in stable condition.
But as of this morning, the body still had not been identified. Not even a gender or age was released:
While investigators spent most of Monday inspecting the truck, Miami-Dade police were at a home on Southwest 47th Terrace in Miami, where the truck was registered.
Police spent hours searching the home, but it wasn’t known what, if anything, was found inside.
According to the Department of Children and Families, a couple who lives in the home adopted four children, including the 10-year-old boy in the hospital.
Look, I don’t mean to make light of someone else’s tragedy…but when I read mysterious shit like this I always start taking stock of my access to rifle ammo, chainsaws, and samurai swords.
Some people think I watch too many horror movies.