Passengers Horrified At Needles Found In Their Airline Food

by Jessica Festa on

And you thought your worst airline meal nightmare was getting runny eggs or stale bread? Passengers onboard four different flights from Amsterdam to the United States on Delta Air Lines were horrified to find sewing needles in their turkey sandwiches.

In total, six sandwiches were found to have needles, including two separate flights to Atlanta, one to Seattle and one to Minneapolis, where the passenger was injured but declined medical attention.

According to News.com.au, the meals were made by Gate Gourmet to be given to business class passengers on Delta flights. Christina Ulosevich, Gate Gourmet’s spokeswoman, has stated no other airlines operating out of Amsterdam have filed similar complaints. The company is launching their own personal investigation into the matter. Moreover, Delta is adding extra security to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

The airline stated, “Delta is taking this matter extremely seriously and is cooperating with local and federal authorities who are investigating the incident. Delta has taken immediate action with our in-flight caterer at Amsterdam to ensure the safety and quality of the food we provide on board our aircraft.”

[image via Andrei Dimofte]

Emaciated Hiker Found After Over A Month Missing In Utah’s Escalante Desert

by Jessica Festa on

After not being heard from in over a month, missing hiker William M. LaFever, 28, has been found. He was spotted by a helicopter flying over the Escalante River gorge, where the bearded man was discovered sitting in a shallow river in the Escalante Desert with nothing more than his pants, shoes, underwear, shirt and a lighter. LaFever had been trying to make his way from Boulder, Utah, to Page, Arizona, on foot, and had lost 50 pounds subsisting on nothing but frogs, roots and river water.

Originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, LaFever had called his father on June 6 or 7 to tell him he was hiking with his dog. He had hoped his father would send him some money to help with the journey. Although LaFever didn’t have a car, his plan was to follow the river until he reached Lake Powell, where he wanted to catch a boat. Unfortunately, the 50-mile desert trek was a lot more difficult than LaFever anticipated.

The hiker was both obsessive compulsive and autistic, the latter giving authorities a clue of his whereabouts. They guessed he might be near the river, after hearing how those with autism are often drawn to water. However, according to officials, LaFever is very lucky to have been found. Although he had camping experience and was in a popular hiking area, he had strayed about 30 miles from where trekkers usually go.”We had no idea if William had stayed along the river, or decided to leave, or got a ride with someone, or was lost somewhere other than along the river,” Garfield County Deputy Ray Gardner told CNN. “We flew along it without any expectation of finding anything at all. The conditions would have to be just right too; unless he was out in the open there was no way we would be able to find him.”

LaFever is currently in stable condition; however, he will remain in the hospital until his strength returns. His dog is still being searched for, although reports are being investigated that he may have been found.

[Image via Big Stock]

Tourists To Blame For Tori The Orangutan’s Smoking Habit

by Jessica Festa on




For those who haven’t heard of Tori, she is Satwa Taru Jurug Zoo‘s famous smoking orangutan. While many people may believe the primate’s habit stemmed from workers in this Indonesian animal park becoming bored or looking for publicity, the truth is it’s the tourists that are the enablers.

Fifteen-year-old Tori has been smoking for over 10 years. She learned the habit by watching visitors who would smoke, then toss lit cigarettes into her cage. It also doesn’t help that everyone cheers Tori on as she puffs away. To help Tori kick her smoking habit, workers are moving her to a different zoo, away from cigarettes and those who may give them to her.

This isn’t the first time Indonesian zoos have had trouble with misbehaving visitors. In March, for example, a giraffe died at Surabaya Zoo after ingesting 40 pounds worth of plastic that had been throw into its enclosure. Moreover, Indonesia is one of the only countries in the world where there are few limits on tobacco selling and marketing. It’s no surprise one-third of the country’s population are smokers. This still, however, doesn’t excuse the act of pushing bad habits onto animals.

To see the smoking primate in action, check out the video above. Hopefully, she will be able to quit completely.

Off-Course Airplane Gets Shot At By Cambodian Troops

by Jessica Festa on

And most people get jumpy when their flight hits turbulence. Passengers of a Bangkok Airways airplane were in for a unnerving surprise when Cambodian troops opened fire at the them. The airplane was supposed to land in Siem Reap Airport; however, due to bad weather, the plane was forced to fly off course.

The shooting was a misunderstanding, as troops believed the passenger airliner to be a spy plane. This border is where, just last year, deadly clashes over territory had taken place between neighboring countries. Typically, commercial airlines do not fly around the Cambodian border, while Bangkok Airways had been six miles over it.

Luckily, nobody was hurt during the incident.

“It was dark so we could not see what type of plane it was. But it was circling many times and then our soldiers fired 18 shots from a machine gun, but it missed the plane because it was flying very high,” Commander Seng Phearin said.

[Image via Big Stock]

Study Shows Visitors To National Parks Up, Time Spent In The Parks Down

by Kraig Becker on

According to USA Today, a new study indicates that the number of visitors to America’s national parks has risen over the past twenty years, but the amount of time they actually spend in the parks is going down. The National Park Service, which conducted the study, says that even though many of the parks, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, have seen record numbers of visitors in recent years, those travelers are actually spending 15 percent less time inside the park while they are there.

Park officials say that a major reason why visits are now shorter than they were two decades ago is that an increasing number of travelers are booking their accommodations outside the park boundaries. Many of the larger parks actually have rustic lodges and campsites that have been popular places to stay for years, but it seems that fewer visitors are choosing to book them when they make their vacation plans. This accounts for at least a portion of the decline in the length of visits, as the study showed that 4.5 million fewer guests stayed the night inside the parks in 2011 than they did in 1994. That’s down 25 percent in just 17 years.

It seems that the parks are as popular as ever but camping isn’t as viable of an option as it once was. This runs directly counter to market trends, which show that Americans have increased their spending on outdoor recreation an average of 5 percent over each of the past five years. Apparently that spending is going into other outdoor activities and travelers are electing to stay in a comfortable bed rather than a tent.

For the Park Service these trends aren’t necessarily alarming, just enlightening. The record number of visitors tells the NPS that travelers still want to visit the parks, they just have other plans on how to spend their time there. The challenge for the Park Service will be to adapt to the changes and continue to provide visitors with what they want and need.