“Auspicious start” award

The traditional throwing of a bride's bouquet for luck ended in disaster at an Italian wedding.

The bride and groom had hired a small plane to fly past and throw the bouquet to a line of women guests, Corriere della Sera reported. However, the flowers were sucked into the plane's engine causing it to catch fire and explode.

The aircraft plunged into a hostel. One passenger on the plane was badly hurt, but about 50 people who had been in the hostel escaped unscathed, as did the pilot. [BBC]