Morgue staff were left stunned when a man presumed dead suddenly regained consciousness just before his cremation.
Identified only as Rohitash, the 45-year-old reportedly shocked everyone when he started breathing moments before being placed on a cremation pyre in Jhunjhunu City, Rajasthan, India, on November 21.
Footage showed Rohitash wrapped in a blanket, opening his eyes and looking dazed.
An ambulance was quickly called to take him to Rajkiya Bhagwan Das Khetan (BDK) Hospital, where he later died.
Officials blamed the mistake on medics, who allegedly skipped the post-mortem examination which would have confirmed the patient was deceased.
Jhunjhunu Police Superintendent Sharad Chouodhary said: “The man did not have any relatives present when he initially arrived at the hospital. His condition worsened and there were no signs of life.”
“The doctors were supposed to do a post-mortem examination but they did not do anything,” he added.
“They just fulfilled the paper formalities and sent the man for cremation. When the body was placed on the pyre, he woke up.”
Officials said the patient, a mute and deaf man staying at a local shelter, had fallen critically ill on November 20.
He was taken to the BDK Hospital, but doctors declared him dead after his condition kept deteriorating.
He was reportedly kept for several hours in a cold mortuary before the funeral rites.
Once he was taken outside, he began breathing and opened his eyes before being rushed back to hospital for urgent treatment.
Police said the principal medical officer and three doctors involved in the case have been suspended over the alleged negligence.
Local media reported that Rohitash died early November 22 morning while undergoing emergency treatment in the ICU of BDK Hospital.
Last year, a woman was found ‘gasping for air’ in her body bag while being prepared for cremation at a care centre in Iowa.
The unnamed woman, who had early-onset dementia, anxiety and depression, was declared dead at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Centre in Urbandale after becoming unresponsive.
The 66-year-old was soon placed in a zipped body bag and taken to the Ankeny Funeral Home and Crematory.
But when funeral home staff unzipped the bag, they found the woman was miraculously still alive.
Her chest was still moving and she was gasping for air, they said, as reported in a legal note.
The home called 911 and paramedics found a pulse and shallow breath.
A staff member from the care centre had reported the woman was not breathing and had no pulse while on a 12-hour shift.
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The nurse said she had been checking on the woman ‘every hour on the hour throughout the night’ to administer morphine and lorazepam as ordered for comfort.
When she stopped responding, she continued to assess the resident for some five minutes before determining that she had died.
She was formally declared dead some 90 minutes later – and about two hours before being found alive.
