British comedy actor Rowan Atkinson, best known for the character Mr Bean, was released from hospital yesterday after being treated for an injury when his supercar crashed into a tree.

Mr Atkinson suffered a minor shoulder injury after the McLaren F1 car he was driving spun off the road on Thursday near Haddon, in eastern England, before crashing into a tree and bursting into flames. The 56-year-old car enthusiast walked away from the accident before firefighters arrived and put out the blaze.

After receiving treatment overnight, Mr Atkinson left hospital at around 3 p.m. yesterday via a back door.

The actor’s love of fast cars is a stark contrast to his hapless character in the Mr Bean series, who drives an aging Mini. The McLaren F1 is one of the fastest production cars in the world and has a top speed of 370 kilometres per hour. It is worth around €750,000.

Mr Atkinson recently appeared in popular British TV motoring show Top Gear and notched up the fastest ever time on the show, completing a circuit of a race track in one minute, 42.2 seconds. (AFP)

Runaway bride

A Taiwanese court has ordered a runaway bride to pay Tw$250,000 (€6,039) in emotional damage to her groom-to-have-been for not showing up at their wedding, local media reported yesterday.

The woman, who was five months pregnant at the time, failed to show up at the wedding ceremony in November after she and her intended had fought over the number of guests to be invited. The deeply embarrassed groom decided on a whim to ask the maid of honour to stand in the bride’s place to fake a wedding, but ended up falling in love with the understudy and later married her for real.

The groom, who lives in Kaohsiung, was also victorious in court after he was awarded Tw$250,000 in a final verdict.

The runaway bride gave birth to her baby earlier this year, which she is raising alone. (AFP)

Buried alive

A teenager who was buried in six feet of sand while digging a trench on a California beach said he was certain he would die before rescuers pulled him to safety.

Matt Mina, 17, said he passed out after a few minutes, but before he lost consciousness he thought of his family and friends. He says he did not know if anyone knew he was buried or could hear his screams.

Mr Mina, from Free Union, Virginia, was visiting his aunt and uncle in Orange County and had been spending Wednesday at Newport Beach with his cousin.

He was buried alive after digging a six-foot-deep pit and attached trench which suddenly collapsed.

It took dozens of rescuers about 30 minutes to dig him out.

Beachgoers sprang to his aid, using anything available to dig for him. Firefighters and lifeguards eventually got him out. (AP)

No limits

Leslie Dunn, a 106-year-old great-grandfather, was fitted with a pacemaker yesterday after collapsing while making a cup of tea for friends.

Allan Harkness, the cardiologist who performed the operation, said that as far as he was aware only a few people older than Leslie Dunn had ever been fitted with a pacemaker, including a 107-year-old man in Scotland.”

Mr Dunn, who retired from the Coldstream Guards as a major in 1956, underwent the hour-long procedure under local anaesthetic. He is expected to return home early next week. (PA)

Well trap

A woman has been rescued after spending six hours trapped down a well shaft.

Paramedics and firefighters were called to a burial park near woodland in Colney, Norwich, UK at about 2.30 a.m yesterday.

The 34-year-old woman had fallen 10 metres down the well and said she had been there since 9 p.m.

Firefighters rescued her and paramedics escorted her home after establishing that she was not injured. (PA)

No fingerprints

A defective gene underlies a rare condition that could be a godsend to criminals, it was revealed.

Adermatoglyphia causes people to be born without fingerprints.

DNA analysis of both affected and non-affected members of the family highlighted a mutation in the gene SMARCAD1 in those with the condition. A specific short version of the gene is exclusively expressed in the skin, and this was mutated in individuals with the disease. (PA)

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