She gulped down two bottles of soy sauce, an act that led to vomiting, diarrhoea, spasms and, 16 days later - death.

The 20-year-old woman, Ms Wu Shu Min, was autistic and had a history of bingeing on food and medical products.

Her father, Mr Wu Jin Gui, 57, a salesman, told reporters the incident happened on the evening on April 20. When he got home around 6.15pm that day, Mr Wu said he was shocked to find his daughter in a daze on the sofa with a large can of cold water in her hand.

"I knew things were no good, and I rushed to check the rubbish bin, where I found two empty soy sauce bottles," said Mr Wu in Chinese. "One bottle had a capacity of 225ml, while the other could hold 125ml. I also found the skins of four oranges in the bin."

When he went to check inside the room, Mr Wu said he found that her daughter had thrown up soy sauce all over the bed. Ms Wu's body was expelling soy sauce through her bowels as well, and the toilet bowl was full of excrement.

"I rushed her to the hospital. Once there, she had spasms all over, so the doctor had to give her a tranquiliser.

"The doctor said that too much salt had gotten to her brain, so she was already brain dead," said Mr Wu.

In the 16 days his daughter was hospitalised, her blood pressure continued to drop and her condition never improved, he added.

Ms Wu eventually passed away on May 6 at about 9am.

A HISTORY OF BINGEING

- swallowed four bottles of hormone and high blood pressure pills - hospitalised for four days.
- swallowed three to four bottles of vitamin pills
- ate 10 raw eggs

Translated from a Shin Min Daily article published on May 7, 2008.