Imagine working in a pet shop and opening a package you expect to be a shipment of tropical fish, and finding instead a human body.
That's what happened to Mark Arabia, the owner of Pets Plus in Philadelphia. Apparently US Airways sent the body to the pet shop by accident - it was actually bound for a research laboratory 70 miles away.
US Airways, which says it is deeply sorry for the mix-up, explains that it was down to a "verbal miscommunication between a delivery driver and the cargo representative".
As for the tropical fish, sadly the pet shop owner says they were left at the airport and probably died.
on March 12, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply
wow this must be horrible. This is scary stuff.
on March 12, 2009 11:05 PM | Reply
It's sad to hear that a human body can be disrespectfully flown around for research purposes. Yes, tropical fish are creatures and to lose them is very sad. But multiple times worse so is having a human being who has now passed away to be violated in such an inhumane way.
Technology has advanced but people's mentality has gone into the dark ages. Medicine at it's rapid peak did not use sacrilegious methods. But people of later times have lost wisdom - consequently when knowledge is stripped of spirituality.
I find this a deplorable and horrifying act to say the least.
When a Jewish man`s funeral procession was passing by in the city where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was, he stood up in respect of the dead man. As he was human. No one went to rip his body, mutilate, or humiliate it in any way. As the body is a gift from God and is sacred, in life and after death.
on March 13, 2009 8:54 AM | Reply
Thanks for your comments AK. This is well beyond my remit of writing about aviation-related matters but thought I might as well throw my two pennies' worth in as I brought it up in the first place! I respect your opinions on this sensitive issue, which I'm sure everybody sees, and is entitled to see, in a different way. I'm more of the belief that if we can learn through science about the causes of devastatng diseases and therefore find ways of preventing others from suffering the same fate, then this type of research is vital - only, of course, when the person involved has given their full consent.