In August 2013, Rahul, a two and half months old infant from Tamil Nadu, India, has had four reported burn injuries since he was born. He is being treated at the Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital in Chennai.
Spontaneous human combustion is the phenomenon in which people without warning suddenly catch fire without any external influence and usually burn beyond recognition. These cases have puzzled scientists for centuries. Researchers suspect unusual biochemical processes as a possible explanation. This recent case in India now seems to confirm this theory.
The news channel “CNN-IBN” reports that doctors at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu are currently striving to alleviate the suffering of an infant only three months old. Whenever the baby sweating increased, his body suddenly burst into flames. The condition has already caused serious burns. Since birth, this infant exhibited this condition several times and caught fire. The first time it happened the child was only nine days old according to CNN-IBN.
Even if doctors suspect that the fire is a result of flammable gases or liquids oozing from pores in the skin of the child, they too are a mystery. Doctors are trying to treat the child’s condition as well as the injuries caused by the spontaneous combustion. Doctors have advised the parents to keep the child away from flammable items and always pay attention to air conditions.
Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) describes reported cases of the burning of a living (or very recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition. As of 1995, there have been about 200 cited cases worldwide over a period of around 300 years.
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There are many hypotheses that attempt to explain human spontaneous combustion. These include several natural explanations as well as supernatural and biblical explanations.
Natural explanations include those:
Intestinal conversion of food into methane by methanogens which when released through the pores of the skin can catch fire when triggered by various sources (e.g., silk cloth generating static electricity).
Based on unknown or otherwise unobserved phenomena (e.g., that the production of abnormally concentrated gas or raised levels of blood alcohol might cause spontaneous ignition).
Relating to health and lifestyle factors (e.g. smoking, not consuming adequate levels of water, etc.) That involve an external source of ignition (e.g., the victim was drunk and dropped a cigarette)
Objections to natural explanations typically refer to the degree of burning of the body with respect to its surroundings. Indeed, one of the common markers of a case of SHC is that the body – or part of it – suffered an extraordinarily large degree of burning while the surroundings or the lower limbs remained comparatively undamaged.
Supernatural and biblical explanations of spontaneous human combustion remain popular. In the latter case, some some interpret Bible passages (such as Num 11:1[3]) to be indicative of spontaneous human combustion..
One notable case is that of Henry Thomas, a 73-year-old man, was found burned to death in the living room of his council house on the Rassau council estate in Ebbw Vale, south Wales in 1980. His entire body was incinerated, leaving only his skull and a portion of each leg below the knee. The feet and legs were still clothed in socks and trousers. Half of the chair in which he had been sitting was also destroyed. Police forensic officers decided that the incineration of Thomas was due to the wick effect. His death was ruled ‘death by burning’, as he had plainly inhaled the contents of his own combustion.
