Spiritual guru boiled alive trying to impress followers

It’s believed he had a heart attack in the steam capsule (Picture: ViralPress)

Disturbing footage has emerged of a spiritual leader accidentally boiling himself alive in a 

giant steamer. 

Lim Ba, a 65-year-old Taoist guru, climbed inside the large steel capsule – 

heated on boiling water – on Monday at 10pm, outside the Kuala Sanglang Qinglong temple 

in Ayer Tawar, Malaysia. He apparently pulled the stunt to show off his phsyical endurance 

to his followers, and had 

managed to pull it off a number of times before. However, after 30 minutes the devotees 

heard frantic banging coming from inside the pan. By the time they managed to get him out, 

he was unconscious. Lim was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead of a heart 

attack soon afterwards. He had also suffered second-degree burns. His devastated son Kang Huai, 32, said the 

family had pleaded with Lim to stop performing the stunt – in which food was cooked next to 

him – but he always refused. 
‘The 

sounds coming from inside the wok were not regular and not normal so we knew there was 

something wrong,’ he said. ‘By the time the ambulance arrived, my father had stopped 

breathing. He underwent a heart bypass last year due to on-and-off breathing difficulties. 

‘My mother Chang Siew Hong, my sisters and I are very sad. Our cheerful father has left us 

forever.’ 

He was rushed to hospital, but tragically died soon afterwards (Picture: ViralPress)
Lim had mastered the stunt over the last decade, and his personal record was 75 minutes in the 

steamer. But his daughter Wei Ling, 37, said that her dad had been feeling unwell on the 

drive to the temple and had ‘lost his appetite’.

‘He went ahead with the entertainment for his fans,’ she said. ‘He was 

happy to see them and to see that they loved him.’ The temple has now cancelled all 

entertainment as a mark of respect for Lim Ba. Taoist officials said the steaming ritual was 

‘not mainstream’, but was more of a ‘magic performance’.

He was trying to show off his ‘physical endurance’ to his followers (Picture: ViralPress)