It seems that clinical wastes turn up in all sorts of places. Sharps are a particular problem when they arise, but tissue wastes are perhaps less common, except perhaps after armed conflict and some of the very worst road traffic incidents, rail and aircraft crashes.  But in China, things seem a little different.

Six human heads were found in a locked suitcase floating on a lake in Bengbu City, Anhui Province on Saturday morning, local media reported today.

Astonishingly, police are reported to have ruled out the possibility of murder and suspected that they were dumped as medical waste, Xin’an Evening News reported.

A 68-year-old garbage collector fished out the suitcase in the Longzi Lake and vaguely saw human parts through an opening. The frightened woman immediately called the police.

Medical examiners found six heads and smelled a strong odour of formalin instead of rotten corpses. Cuts in their skulls appeared to be made in brain surgeries, said Shao Zhengren, professor of Bengbu Medical College.

Local police are now tracing the origin of the suitcase, which might have been stolen by a thief and abandoned later.

Must have been a cheery sight for the garbage collector!