• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

If you're not a local, don't Swim in the Ganges

1feral1

Banned
Banned
Inactive
Reaction score
1
Points
410
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/brit-dies-after-swimming-in-ganges/story-e6frfku0-1225886873422

Backpacker dies after swimming in Ganges
By Virginia Wheeler and John Kay of The Sun in London From: NewsCore July 01, 2010 8:39PM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these? A BRITISH student has died days after swimming in India's Ganges river on his first trip outside Europe.

Promising filmmaker Sam Banks who saved for a year for the trip collapsed with severe sickness and diarrhoea after swimming in the nation's holiest river, The Sun reports.

By the time an ambulance rushed him to the hospital in New Delhi, the 20-year-old was dead.

Millions of Hindus bathe in the Ganges every year to wash away their sins. But nearly a billion litres of untreated sewage are dumped there each day, along with cremated bodies and industrial chemicals.

The day before he died, vegan Sam - an old boy of posh £27,000-a-year ($71,000) Bedales School - learned he was accepted to study film at the London College of Communication.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
His mum Louise, 49, said; "We're devastated. He had such a bright future".

Sam's father Graham said: "I understand from friends out there that he had been swimming in the Ganges. He was a fantastic young man, with hundreds of friends, and was so excited about India. He'd been saving up for a year - it was the first time he had been out of Europe."

An autopsy in India failed to find the cause of death. His body was flown home to Steep in Hampshire, southern England for a second autopsy.

Read more at The Sun.

Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/brit-dies-after-swimming-in-ganges/story-e6frfku0-1225886873422#ixzz0smhAbNKH
 
The interesting thing about sanitation, refigeration, etc. is that it probably kills as many people as it saves (an unsupported opinion).  Having never been exposed to common bacteria, our bodies can't handle it.
 
That's unfortunate for that young man, but not surprising considering the Ganges has something in the range of 120 times the faecal coliform bacteria per 100ml than Western nations consider safe.  Those locals must have one aggressive immune system.
 
Back
Top