Stone dead the crow

In a turn of events that sounds like it was the product of a comedy animator's imagination, a crow managed to set fire to a field outside Enköping, Sweden.

First, the crow flew into an electricity cable. Then, after a nasty electric shock the bird burst into flames, burning to death.

Still ablaze, the dead crow dropped to earth, landing in a pile of hay in the field in Österunda, outside Enköping , 80km west of Stockholm.

The hay quickly caught fire and the blaze spread to the whole field before four fire engines arrived to put a stop to the infernal farce.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said fire officer Per Gustafsson to local newspaper Enköpings-Posten.

Nobody was injured in the blaze, which destroyed around 250 square metres of crops.