'LIZARD GIRL' IN HOSPITAL
Thousands of curious visitors have beseiged an Indian hospital to see a girl who is supposed to be half-human and half-lizard.
Despite denials by doctors that a girl who had been brought in by her mother had actually turned into a lizard the crowds just kept growing.
Staff and patients at the J J Hospital at Byculla tried to turn back the tide of thrill-seekers but the curious managed to get into the building and search the wards for the lizard-girl.
They were even close to breaking into the intensive care unit for heart patients.
The rumour was that the girl, from the Pune area in south west India, turned into a lizard after desecrating a holy book.
She was watching television when her mother knelt down for evening prayers.
The mother asked her daughter to turn off the television, but the teenager kicked the holy book, and turned into a half-lizard-like creature.
No one knows how, when or where the rumour originated.
Dr Pravin Shingare, J J Hospital and Grant Medical College dean, said that he was at first getting phone calls asking for the patient then people started turning up.
He added: "There were many women and youngsters."
Police from the nearby J J Marg station were put on alert to manage the hordes but they proved too little too late.
Some patients complained about the near riot that ensued.
One said: "Everybody is being inconvenienced because of one patient."
Thousands of curious visitors have beseiged an Indian hospital to see a girl who is supposed to be half-human and half-lizard.
Despite denials by doctors that a girl who had been brought in by her mother had actually turned into a lizard the crowds just kept growing.
Staff and patients at the J J Hospital at Byculla tried to turn back the tide of thrill-seekers but the curious managed to get into the building and search the wards for the lizard-girl.
They were even close to breaking into the intensive care unit for heart patients.
The rumour was that the girl, from the Pune area in south west India, turned into a lizard after desecrating a holy book.
She was watching television when her mother knelt down for evening prayers.
The mother asked her daughter to turn off the television, but the teenager kicked the holy book, and turned into a half-lizard-like creature.
No one knows how, when or where the rumour originated.
Dr Pravin Shingare, J J Hospital and Grant Medical College dean, said that he was at first getting phone calls asking for the patient then people started turning up.
He added: "There were many women and youngsters."
Police from the nearby J J Marg station were put on alert to manage the hordes but they proved too little too late.
Some patients complained about the near riot that ensued.
One said: "Everybody is being inconvenienced because of one patient."
