Posted on 12/12/2001 4:56:49 PM PST by t-shirt
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:46 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
A well-known biophysicist who was one of the leading researchers on DNA sequencing analysis was found slain in his rural Loudoun County home after co-workers became concerned that he didn't come to work Monday, authorities said yesterday.
A microbiologist killed at CSIRO's animal diseases facility in Geelong had logged 15 years' experience with the unit, police said today.
Victoria Police said Set Van Nguyen, 44, appeared to have died yesterday morning after entering an airlock into a storage laboratory filled with nitrogen.
His body was found when his wife became worried after he failed to return from work.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.yahoo.com ...
And this statement is chilling in and of itself.
"Dr Wang says CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) is now the only institute in the world holding a collection of all major newly discovered paramyxoviruses."
If I find the names of the other two, I'll send them to you. Thanks!
Confined space, almost no oxygen. Two breaths -- dead. Actually happens, a standard danger in industry, one people are normally trained to avoid.
Doesn't matter if the gas is deadly or not. What is deadly, and quicker than heck, is the lack of oxygen.
When I checked these stories out the next morning, I thought they had been hyped-up. The Virginia murder has been solved as you know by now.
I enjoy Art Bell, but I take it with a grain of salt.
However, I appreciate your efforts to keep us informed, and we can make up our own minds.
NEWS; Pg. 26Herald Sun
December 13, 2001, Thursday
Victim of airlock tragedy a dad of two
By Mark Buttler
A MARRIED father of two has been identified as the scientist who suffocated in a puzzling accident at a laboratory in Geelong.
Microbiologist Set Van Nguyen, 44, was found dead in an airlock chamber at the CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory on Tuesday morning. Mr Nguyen, of West Fyans St, Geelong, had worked at the laboratory for the past 15 years and had entered an airlock that led to a room containing nitrogen.
Police said once the outer door was closed, he operated an inner airlock door, was unable to breathe and collapsed.
CSIRO spokeswoman Emma Holmes said Vietnamese-born Mr Nguyen was married with two daughters.
She said he worked with the micro-security unit which was responsible for ensuring exotic animal diseases under examination could not escape the centre.
"He was very popular with staff and was a warm character," Ms Holmes said.
"He never had a harsh word for anybody."
Mr Nguyen's body was found early on Tuesday morning after his wife raised concerns that he had not come home from work.
WorkCover is investigating the tragedy and a police brief will be prepared for the coroner.
Unless they find that foul play was involved, we'll probably never hear another word about this one. If someone will help me remember in a few days, I'll take another look to see if anything turned up.
Please continue.
You didn't address me specifically, but that's never stopped me before. ;-) I know you were probably saying that in jest, but I want to make a comment to everyone about this.
No, we're not going off the deep end by gathering facts and then theorizing from those facts. To avoid creating an atmosphere of 'wild-eyed speculation,' it's important to gather the facts first and then hypothesize and brainstorm. From what I can see, that's exactly what we're doing. We're simply "adding to the body of knowledge." :-)
It's likely that this "unusual" mortality rate among physicians and scientists is not unusual at all and we're only noticing because of the current events since 9/11. But nonetheless, we have at least eight years worth of "unusual" deaths that have preceded this, so it would be stupid not to keep an open mind about it and look for patterns and correlations. It's quite disconcerting to think of the possibilities here and very tempting to automatically dismiss it as NutWing/Paranoid thinking to avoid thinking about it, but under the current circumstances, we can't afford to do that.
Many of these deaths are turning out to be caused by things such as enraged wives, Goth cults, and the like, but that shouldn't stop us from examining each and every one.
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