Teenage Girl In Coma After She's Burned Alive By Friends In 'Satanic Ritual'

An 18-year-old South African woman was in a coma Monday after being doused in petrol and burned alive by friends in a Johannesburg park, in what police suspect was a satanic ritual. Kirsty Theologo suffered burns over three quarters of her body, damaging her lungs and throat, when she was set alight in a park in southern Johannesburg, her sister Samantha told reporters. A 16-year-old girl tried to put out the flames by rolling Theologo in the sand, burning herself in the process, the paper said. She was also hospitalised.Samantha Theologo claimed the group ran away, telling South African media that her sister and the other girl had to walk two kilometres for help. “I wasn’t home, but my mom told me she found my sister in the bathroom washing her face," she was quoted as saying. “My mom said it was horrific.” The local news paper cited a medical source as saying the girls were driven to hospital by their pastor. While Kirsty was burning, one boy cut a third girl's hand and held it over a Bible so that the blood could soak it, according to one of the girls who was in the group, the paper said. Provincial police spokeswoman Captain Pinky Tsingane said the girls had been tied up and there was speculation the attack was a satanic ritual. Two men aged 19 and 21 who took part in the incident turned themselves in on Sunday, the paper added.

Scientists Confirm 'Cyclops Shark' Is Real

Scientists have confirmed that a one-eyed albino 'cyclops' shark discovered earlier this year is indeed real. The shark was found to have only one eye in the middle of its face and lacking the usual grey colour, after it was removed from the womb of its mother, a dusky shark. Shocked fisherman Enrique Lucero León caught the female dusky shark earlier this year. To his amazement he found the deformed shark embryo along with its nine regularly developed siblings. 'This is extremely rare,' said biologist Felipe Galván-Magaña, of the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences in La Paz, Mexico.'As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.' Scientists thoroughly examined the shark, confirming that it was a genuine birth deformity as the embryo suffered cyclopia, a condition also found in several mammals including humans. This meant that the shark did not survive for long outside of the womb. Galván-Magaña and his colleagues have come across many other 'different' looking shark embryos during their years of research.The team discovered a two-headed shark that had failed to develop separately. In 2005 the internet buzzed about the image of a cyclops kitten, conveniently named Cy. There was much speculation about the authenticity of the image but it was revealed that the kitten was indeed a furry reality, as another sufferer of cyclopia. Several human bodies of cycploia suffers are exhibited in museums across the world.

Rare Disease Causes 26-Year-Old To Age Decades

A 26-year-old woman in Vietnam is believed to suffer from an extremely rare disease that causes her skin to age rapidly. The Telegraph in London reported the story on Friday, saying Nguyen Thi Phuong began to age rapidly in 2008 after she had an allergic reaction to seafood and took some medicine she bought from a pharmacy. "I was really itchy all over my body. I had to scratch even while sleeping," Phoung tells The Telegraph. "Then I switched to traditional medicine and all the hives disappeared, together with my itching. However, my skin began to sag and fold." What exactly is afflicting Phoung is unknown, however some have argued she could have a condition called lipodystrophy, which causes a layer of fatty tissue beneath the skin to disintegrate, while the skin itself continues to grow rapidly.Nguyen Thi Phuong at age 21, before her mystery illness, and age 26, after she appeared to age by decadesAccording to the Telegraph, the condition has no cure and leaves sufferers with loose folds of skin all over their body. The woman, the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, says while the skin all over her body has aged, her teeth, eyes, mind and menstrual cycle remain in youthful condition. Phoung has worn a mask over her face since 2008, when her skin first began to sag. She is married, and says the unconditional love from her husband has been her strength throughout her ordeal.

Purple Sponge Sea Creature Found

It’s purple, it’s slimy, it lives off the Norfolk coast - and it’s got international marine scientists very excited. No, not the creature from the black lagoon but the sponge Hymedesmia - now officially declared as a brand new species of sea creature. The sponge was found off Sheringham on a 20-mile underwater chalk reef which is the longest in Europe and is now regarded as a fragile eco-system of international importance.The discovery came during a Wildlife Trusts’ survey of the entire East Coast, from Essex to Northumberland, carried out during National Marine Week in August. Altogether 352 species of marine wildlife were found including 126 seaweeds, several of them previously unrecorded. The sponge, which feeds on small particles in the water, has been identified by expert Dr Claire Goodwin of the National Museums of Northern Ireland who said that because the reef is unusually made of chalk there could be other “new” sponge species living there.