‘Scorpion Queen’ aims for record

A MALAYSIAN woman who is trying to reclaim a world record by living in a locked glass box with more than 6,000 scorpions has been stung once, is suffering a fever and scarcely sleeps because the creatures keep crawling over her.

Nur Malena Hassan, aged 27, said yesterday she has a “50/50 chance” of reaching her target of being cooped up with the poisonous arachnids for 36 consecutive days to set a new record for the longest stay in a room full of scorpions.

“I’m feeling so much tension,” Nur Malena said in a telephone interview from the specially built glass room she moved into on Saturday in a shopping mall in Kuantan, 160 miles north-east of Kuala Lumpur. “Nighttime is the worst,” she said. “I can only sleep two or three hours, since scorpions get so active at night, but I want to show that Malaysians are capable of world-class efforts.”

Nur Malena said she has a mild fever after being stung on her face on Sunday. But scorpions rarely sting unless they’re disturbed, so she remains cautious while moving within the room, which measures about 12 feet by 10 feet.

Nur Malena, who’s been nicknamed “Scorpion Queen”, set a world record in 2001 by living for 30 days with 2,700 scorpions. She was stung seven times, fell unconscious and nearly gave up the potentially deadly feat.

Her record was shattered a year later by Kanchana Ketkeaw, a woman in neighbouring Thailand who lived in a similar glass room for 32 days with 3,400 scorpions. “Having 6,000 scorpions is different from 3,000,” Nur Malena said. “It’s just worse.”