Freak Sauna Death: Man’s Skin Charred Off His Body When Found


A Miami man was found burned to death inside the sauna of at his Eden Isles condos Sunday.

Widow Ronnie Antiporek told CBS Miami that she did not recognize her husband of 49 years at first because his skin tone was so darkened. She did not believe it could be her fair-skinned husband.

“I close my eyes and I just see his face charred. And this sounds horrible, but there was skin on the floor and on the bench, and we shouldn’t have had to see that.”

The north Miami beach man, 68-year-old Dennis Antiporek, was in the process of retiring at the condo community where his corpse was found. Antiporek used the sauna often to treat his neuropathy. After failing to return from one of his sauna trips for several hours, his family began to grow restless. What they found in the sauna, says his wife, has permanently troubled her.

“I can’t get that image out of my head. I can’t get that smell… I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to do anything. Because all I can think about is being in that sauna and that heat and seeing the most important man in my life dried up into nothing.”

Legal action is being taken against the condominiums for failing to keep the heat in the sauna at safe temperatures, according to the New York Daily News. The family’s attorney, Joseph Madalon, says that a faulty timer may have been responsible for the grisly sauna death.

“He was totally broiled. His skin had fallen off his body. There were huge chunks of skin on the sauna floor. He literally looked like jerky.”

Sauna deaths, while not exactly common, do occur several times around the globe every year. HealthWire says that users must be aware that this risk does exist, and to pay special attention to what their body is telling them while using the popular relaxation method.

“Don’t stay in longer than is comfortable. Do stay hydrated. Do head for the door if you begin to feel sick. Do be aware that nobody thinks it’ll happen to them. Additionally, one of the most important requirements for sauna safety is to not combine it with alcohol use. Finland has a number of fatalities every year due to persons combining the sauna with alcohol. Don’t make this mistake.”

[Image via Flickr]

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