Latest news with #biohazard
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Passengers shocked after ‘human waste' smelling sludge covers luggage
Virgin Atlantic passengers have been left horrified after their luggage touched down in New York covered in a mysterious brown sludge. Passengers landing in John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this week were greeted with a putrid smell as their sludge-covered luggage made its way out on the carousel. 'You arrive in New York on a Virgin Atlantic flight and they've emptied the plane toilet (poo and wee) on your suitcase,' traveller Sosan wrote in the now-viral footage. 'It was the worst thing I've ever smelt in my life. They didn't even tell us. 'There were children with poo all over them,' she added In the clip, multiple suitcases on-board the flight from London can be seen making their way around the carousel splattered in the brown substance. Naturally, viewers were horrified by the sight. 'This is a biohazard. Disgusting,' wrote one. 'This is a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen,' said another. 'I would've screamed, thrown up, and then sued,' said a third. In a separate post, Sosan shared messages from other passengers who had reached out to her following the clip. 'I was on the Virgin flight too. Did you get in touch with them? I spoke with someone and they are reimbursing my belongings and gave me some miles,' wrote one. 'I can't believe this happened. The whole room smelt like faeces, I can't imagine it was grease,' they added. Another furious passenger took to X to slam the airline, branding them 'literal s**t.' 'How are all these bags covered in human s**t! Floor staff saying they can't provide wipes, new bags or hand sanitiser and that we have to 'write an email to the customer team'. All my clothes are destroyed as I have a fabric bag,' they wrote, alongside pictures of their destroyed luggage. In a statement to Virgin Atlantic said the substance was grease from a broken pipe in the terminal. 'We're aware of a New York JFK system failure that affected the baggage of a small number of arriving customers on July 14,' a spokesperson said. 'We're working closely with the team at JFK and local authorities to ensure the issue is resolved. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to affected customers.'
The Sun
30-06-2025
- The Sun
Killer fumes, tragic suicide notes & rotting corpses bulging with maggots…my life as a crime scene cleaner
FROM blood and bodily fluids to used needles, maggots and mouse-droppings, there isn't much that crime scene cleaner Lauren Baker hasn't seen - or smelled. Major crime leaves a trail of devastation - and once police have completed their forensics they call in a crack team of crime scene cleaners like Lauren. 11 11 These aren't your average cleaners. They are highly trained professionals who clean up dangerous hazards, including everything from airborne infectious diseases and killer drug fumes, to explosives, dirty needles and booby traps. In a new Channel 4 documentary - Crime Scene Cleaners - bodycam footage takes viewers beyond the police tape into the heart of the tragedy. Trauma cleaning expert Lauren brings years of experience to the most harrowing and dangerous scenes in Kent and Essex. 'I had a gentleman in a flat that was a full decomposition and that was quite bad,' she tells The Sun. 'The first thing that hits you when you walk through the door is the smell. And if it isn't the smell it is the flies and the maggots that come with it.' Lauren had worked in a pub and as a domestic cleaner before becoming inspired to set up her own business as a specialist bio-hazard cleaner. And now she's well-known in the business for her signature post-cleanse ritual - opening a window at the end to let the spirit of the deceased person be free. 'I had done a clean in a really grotty property, and the gentleman I helped had been suffering physically and mentally, and carers hadn't been in there,' she explains. 'I thought I could help people like him. So I went home and researched it as much as I could. 'I realised I actually enjoyed the filth and the grime, and I knew there was a market out there. I realised I could help a lot of people through the power of cleaning.' My perfect husband was hiding a twisted truth that led to a bloodbath – police found me in 'worst crime scene' ever 11 11 Toughest job But being a specialist crime scene cleaner is not for the faint-hearted, as they can be faced with murder scenes, suicides and unattended deaths where people have died alone at home and may not have been found for weeks - or months. Lauren, who runs LIT biohazard, says: 'It is a lot more intense and it takes a lot more of a mental strain on you than a physical strain.' She admits the toughest job is to clean up a home after someone has sadly taken their own life. "Obviously they are not your everyday clean up and there is a big story behind them,' Lauren says. 'I remember one of the first ones I went to and it was more of a mental strain than anything. 'We were the ones who found the [suicide] letters, we were the ones who had to take the note off the door and I can still remember what that note said word for word. We were the ones who found the [suicide] letters, we were the ones who had to take the note off the door and I can still remember what that note said word for word Lauren Baker 'Sometimes people do it in such a calculated way. 'We then have to go to the families and tell them what we have found. This one person had emptied bank accounts and left envelopes on the side with money in and named who it should go to. 'They had left individual letters. The note on the door was written in red pen saying 'Do not enter, call 999, there is a dead body inside.' 'That one will always stick with me. It really touched a nerve. You can see how they planned exactly what they are doing, and you can see how they are living as well, which led them to this point, not many belongings, not much food in the cupboards. 'You have got to be strong-minded to do this job. I listen to a lot of music. Sometimes I go home and I do have a little cry in the shower.' Stench of death Whenever people find out what blonde-haired mum Lauren does for a living she gets a barrage of questions. 'It sparks quite a reaction when I tell people what I do,' she chuckles. But there is one question she struggles to answer - what does death smell like? 'You do get used to it. But the smell of death I can't really describe, it is such a distinctive smell,' she says. When I first started I remember going home and thinking I smelled of death... one day I even scrubbed myself in Dettol and had about four showers and I could still smell death Lauren Baker 'We do have strong masks so usually you can't smell a lot of it. But we swear by putting a bit of Vicks underneath your nose, then your mask, and then you are good to go. 'But when I first started I remember going home and thinking I smelled of death. Psychologically because that is what I'd been smelling all day, that is what you think you smell of. 'One day I even scrubbed myself in Dettol and had about four showers and I could still smell death.' Hazardous Crime scene cleaners must wear top-to-toe PPE which is disposed of every day to shield them from dangerous biohazards, like blood-borne pathogens, harmful bacteria and toxic chemicals. Lauren's top priority is always keeping her team safe. She explains: 'My first thought is how long have they been there? Is there any decomposition? 'How bad is the clean-up going to be? We could be walking into a bloodbath. We could be walking into needles everywhere. 'You can have faeces, you can have bodily fluids, we don't know what we're walking into.' In the show Lauren's American counterparts are seen dealing with the scourge of fentanyl addiction and deaths - which pose their own dangers as inhaling airborne fentanyl fumes can cause serious side effects to police officers and crime scene cleaners. We could be walking into a bloodbath. We could be walking into needles everywhere. You can have faeces, you can have bodily fluids, we don't know what we're walking into Lauren Baker But thankfully that isn't something she and her team have experienced in the UK - although they do face different risks on a daily basis. 'There are risks - we have to be vaccinated to do our job,' she says. 'If we have a person who has passed away in his home and he has an infectious disease, that then can become airborne as his body decomposes. 'We have gone into homes and done needle sweeps before and you will be surprised where you can find needles. 'You've really got to have your wits about you and to be prepared for every situation. 'Most of the time people are generally found within three to four days. But you can have cases where people have been sat there for weeks. 'And if that is the case then you get an awful lot of decomposition to clean up and that is when you get flies, maggots, all sorts start to fester in there. 'When someone passes, fluid leaks from every hole in their body.' Strong stomach Lauren's firm also tackles hoarder cleans and mental health crisis cleaning. 'A lot of people who are suffering with their mental health, the first thing that takes a hit is their home,' she says. 'They tend to get to a point where they think, 'I will just step over it,' and then it gets to a point where there is no walkway to just step over but they are so far in with it that they don't know a way out. 'That's where we step in - a messy house is a messy mind. You can't get yourself back on the road to recovery with a messy home. 'It all depends on the person. We have done houses where it has been box upon box of empty cereal boxes. 'A lot of the time these people have experienced trauma in their past, or their parents had lived like that so it was just normal. But some of them find themselves in such a state. ' Alcoholics for example. Sometimes they will urinate in bottle after bottle and keep hold of that. 'They have got to the point where their toilet is overflowing and they don't know how to unblock it so they go in the bottle or the can. 'We have been in properties where we have picked a can up thinking it was empty and it was full of urine.' Biohazard cleaners like Lauren certainly need a strong stomach as well as a strong mind. But Lauren would not have it any other way. She says: 'I absolutely love my job. I'm helping people through cleaning and I wouldn't choose to do any other job in the world.' Crime Scene Cleaners starts at 10pm on Monday 30 June or stream all episodes on Channel 4. 11
News.com.au
05-06-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Mystery woman caught in ‘disgusting' act outside business four times
A mystery jogger has been filmed defecating outside a Perth health clinic on four separate occasions, prompting staff to appeal to the public for help in identifying her. The woman has repeatedly used the doorstep of the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia (ADSA) in Osborne Park, northwest Perth, as her personal toilet. The clinic has now released security footage of the incidents, seeking information from the public after the series of early morning offences. Initially, staff believed the first incident on December 8 was an unfortunate one-off and sympathised with the culprit. However, the woman was caught again just before 6am on March 20 – this time, nearly spotted by a passing car. She returned days later, around the same time on April 1, pausing her fitness tracker before committing the act. After a fourth incident last week, fed-up staff decided to go public. 'Coming in and finding this in the morning is extremely distressing for our staff,' ADSA chief executive Melita Markey told Nine News. 'We (initially) thought, 'Oh, someone's got in a bit of distress and did what they had to do'.' After multiple incidents, staff believe the behaviour is deliberate, especially given the proximity of public toilets and a 24-hour petrol station. Each time, professional cleaners were called in to deal with the mess, which she claimed posed a 'biohazard' risk to staff, clients, and the public. 'I believe it's a cry for help,' Ms Markey said. '(I don't know) why she targets us … We'd love her to come in and see our GP and see if we can do something to help her.' In a bid to deter further incidents, the ADSA has put up signs and images of the jogger outside the building. The organisation has also urged anyone with information to contact them. 'If anyone has any information or can identify this individual who was caught on security camera, please contact the ADSA,' the organisation wrote online. 'Perhaps we need to leave some jogger doggy bags out!' This incident comes amid a similar case in Adelaide, where a homeowner threatened to publicly shame a woman who defecated on their driveway. After the incident on April 26, signs were posted around Kensington Gardens demanding the woman return to clean up, with the threat of circulating security footage if she failed to do so. The matter was reportedly resolved privately before the deadline passed.
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Another poo jogger strikes! Mystery woman is caught on camera committing a disgusting act outside the same business FOUR times
A suburban health clinic has issued a desperate plea to the mystery jogger who continues to repeatedly use their doorstep as her personal toilet. The Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia in Perth has turned to the public for help following a series of bizarre early morning defecations in recent months, which were all captured on CCTV. Fed up with the unwelcome surprises, staff have released footage of the woman caught in the act, which has also been shared with authorities. They first thought it was a one-off and felt sorry for the culprit when the poo jogger first struck on December 8. She dropped her shorts to answer nature's call just before 6am on March 20 and was almost caught in the act by a passing car before returning around the same time days later on April 1. Baffled staff decided enough was enough when the woman defecated outside their workplace last week. 'Coming in and finding this in the morning is extremely distressing for our staff,' ADSA chief executive Melita Markey said Nine News. 'We (initially) thought, 'Oh, someone's got in a bit of distress and did what they had to do. Staff are baffled as to why the women keeps returning, given the clinic is located within close proximity of a 24-hour petrol station and public toilets. 'It is a biohazard and they are putting people at risk, putting our staff at risk, our clients at risk and also themselves,' Ms Markey said. 'I believe it's a cry for help, (I don't know) why she targets us ... We'd love her to come in and see our GP and see if we can do something to help her.' Psychologist Grant Brecht suspected the behavior could be a sign of obsessive compulsive disorder 'They believe that if they don't do something then something terrible or awful could happen to themselves or someone they love,' he explained Dr Brecht aired the same theory in 2018 when high flying businessman Andrew Macintosh was famously unmasked as the Queensland 'poo-jogger'. Macintosh was named, shamed and charged after he got caught while crouched in the act, a piece of toilet paper in hand in front of a secret camera. 'They are seeking a thrill and they get addicted to the way it makes them feel ... equating it to taking a hit of heroin,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald at the time. 'It can make them feel invincible ... it can also tie into the idea of delusions of grandeur.' In the meantime, the ADSA has posted signs and images of the jogger outside the building in a desperate attempt to ward her off. 'If anyone has any information or can identify this individual who was caught on security camera, please contact the ADSA,' the organisation post online.
