Spider-hunting nudist ends with burns

A funnel-web spider rears up on its hind legs at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford in a 2001 file photo.

An Australian nudist who tried to set fire to what he thought was a deadly funnel web spider's nest ended up with badly burned buttocks, emergency officials said Monday.

The 56-year-old man was at a nudist colony near Bowral, about 60 miles southwest of Sydney, Sunday when he spotted what he believed to be a funnel web spider hole.

Ambulance workers, including a helicopter crew, were called to the scene after the man poured petrol down the hole and then lit a match in an attempt to kill the offending arachnid.

"The exploding gasoline fumes left the man with burns to 18 percent of his body, on the upper leg and buttocks ," the NRMA Careflight helicopter rescue service said in a statement.

It said the man's lack of clothing probably contributed to the extent of his burns.

"The fate of the bunkered spider was unknown, although other guests at the resort thought it was probably a harmless trapdoor spider and not a deadly funnel web," the statement said.

NRMA Careflight said it was called to a property in the same area in January when another man kicked a spider that was crawling up the wall of a friend's cabin. The man broke his leg in two places.

本周一，據澳大利亞處理突發事件的官員介紹，一位裸體主義者試圖放火燒一只致命漏斗網蜘蛛的窩，結果自己的臀部被嚴重燒傷。

周日，這名56歲的男子在位于悉尼西南60英里Bowral小鎮附近的一個裸體主義者居住區內發現了一個蜘蛛洞，他認為那是一只漏斗網蜘蛛的洞。

他將汽油澆到洞里，然后點了根火柴，試圖將這只不懷好意的蜘蛛燒死。之后，救護人員被召集到出事現場，其中包括一支直升機救護隊。

NRMA Careflight直升機救護隊在事故報告中提到：“汽油燃燒產生的氣體引起爆炸，造成這名男子全身18%的面積燒傷，燒傷部位集中在胳膊上半部分和臀部。”

報告說，可能是他身上沒穿什么衣服，致使了較大面積的燒傷。

報告中說：“那只受困蜘蛛的命運目前還不清楚，來此處游玩的其他游客認為那可能只是一只沒有什么害處的隱身蜘蛛，并不是漏斗網蛛。”

NRMA Careflight救援機隊說，一月份，他們曾受命趕到這里的一間住所，當時的情況是，一名男子在他朋友房間用腳踢一只在墻上爬行的蜘蛛，結果他的腿兩處斷裂。

Vocabulary:

nudist : 裸體主義者

burn : 燒傷；灼傷（如：burns on the hand<手部的燒傷>）

buttocks : 臀部

be bunkered : 陷入難以擺脫的困境