A man was nearly cremated alive in India after three doctors mistakenly declared him dead, The Logical Indian reported November 23.
After waking up on the funeral pyre, 25-year-old Rohitash Kumar was immediately rushed back to the hospital in Rajasthan, India. He died a day later from the condition that initially hospitalized him.
Both deaf and mute, Kumar had been staying at a home for the mentally impaired.
When he began experiencing epileptic seizures, he was rushed to the hospital. After seemingly succumbing to his condition, three doctors declared him dead without conducting a proper post-mortem examination.
“There were no near relatives of his present,” Jhunjhunu SP Sharad Chouodhary said, according to The Indian Express.
“The doctors were supposed to do a postmortem of the youth, but they did not do anything. The doctors just fulfilled the paper formalities and sent the man for cremation. When the body was kept on the pyre, he woke up.”
Kumar had reportedly spent the three hours prior to his near-cremation in a freezing cold morgue, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
Footage obtained by The Mail reportedly shows Kumar in a catatonic state just prior to his waking up.
WATCH: Extraordinary moment man ‘comes back from the dead’ moments before he was due to be cremated in Indiahttps://t.co/JPpmJWVLDf pic.twitter.com/EWYarSeO4e
— Video Forensics (@Video_Forensics) November 25, 2024
The health department is currently investigating the three doctors and BDK hospital.
“Doctors Yogesh Jhkhar, Navneet Meel and Sandeep Prachar are suspended for gross misconduct,” said District Collector Ramavtar Meena.
“They did not perform a postmortem and sent the man for cremation. We have asked for a report from the medical department soon,” he said.
Unfortunately, this kind of incident isn’t unique to India.
In 2023, an Iowa woman was discovered “gasping for air” in her body bag just prior to her cremation, The Mail reported.
Like Kumar, the 66-year-old woman had been mistakenly declared dead at the care center she was staying at: the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Centre in Urbandale, Iowa.
The woman reportedly had early-onset dementia, anxiety and depression.
After being declared dead, she was placed in a body bag and sent to the Ankeny Funeral Home and Crematory, where staff made the shocking discovery.