South African man wakes after
21 hours in morgue fridge
By Nastasya Tay, Associated Press
July 25, 2011
South Africa
A South African
man awoke to find himself in a morgue fridge - nearly a day after his
family thought he had died, a health official said Monday.
Health
department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the man awoke Sunday afternoon,
21 hours after his family called in an undertaker who sent him to the
morgue after an asthma attack.
Morgue
owner Ayanda Maqolo said he sent his driver to collect the body shortly
after the family reported the death. Maqolo said he thought the man was
around 80 years old.
"When
he got there, the driver examined the body, checked his pulse, looked
for a heartbeat, but there was nothing," Maqolo told the Associated
Press.
But
a day after staff put the body into a locked refrigerated compartment,
morgue workers heard someone shouting for help. They thought it was a
ghost, the morgue owner said.
"I
couldn't believe it!" Maqolo said. "I was also scared. But they are my
employees and I had to show them I wasn't scared, so I called the
police."
After
police arrived, the group entered the morgue together.
"I
was glad they had their firearms, in case something wanted to fight
with us," Maqolo said.
He
said the man was pale when they pulled him out.
"He
asked, 'How did I get here?'" Maqolo said.
The
health department said the man was then taken to a nearby hospital for
observation and later discharged by doctors who deemed him stable.
Kupelo,
the health department spokesman, urged South Africans to call on health
officials to confirm that their relatives are really dead.
The
man's family was informed that he was alive during a family meeting
convened to make funeral arrangements. They're very happy to have him
home, Maqolo said.
But
Maqolo said he is still trying to recover from the traumatic experience.
"I
couldn't sleep last night, I had nightmares," he said. "But today I'm
much better."
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