Perhaps, we shouldn't
take all those metaphorical expressions like the Blue
Screen of Death so lightly. Especially after reports
like this one
from Egypt on iAfrica. Doesn't it all read like the plot of a
disastrous Hollywood flick?
The
Egyptian government has sought to dispel rumours that a mobile phone
text message "from unknown foreign quarters" is spreading
around the country and killing those who receive it.
The
extraordinary move by Egypt's health and interior ministries follows
press reports that an SMS containing a special combination of numbers
killed a man in the town of Mallawi south of Cairo.
"He
died vomiting blood, followed by stroke; shortly after he received a
message from an unknown phone number," the Egyptian Gazette
reported on Wednesday.
"The
number begins with the symbol (+) and ends with (111)," it said.
An
"official security source" was quoted by the official MENA
news agency as denying that those who receive the SMS "get
splitting headaches followed by brain haemorrhage that leads to
death.
A
statement from the health ministry quoted health officials in several
regions as saying that they had "received no cases with such
symptoms" "These rumours contradict all scientific facts,"
the statement said.
Egypt's
interior ministry has detained three workers at an oil company for
allegedly starting the rumours "and they are now being
interrogated," MENA said.
Photo by pixel_addict/Flickr
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