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Electrician in India comes back to life in morgue after being declared ‘dead’ hours before

A man in India was discovered alive at a morgue, hours after being declared dead following an accident. — Reuters pic
A man in India was discovered alive at a morgue, hours after being declared dead following an accident. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — An electrician in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India came back to life after being declared dead by doctors following an accident.

It was Sreekesh Kumar’s sister-in-law Madhu Bala, who noticed the 40-year-old was showing signs of movement, as a pathologist was preparing to perform an autopsy on him, Times of India reported.

According to the portal, Sreekesh was hit by a speeding motorcycle on Thursday and was taken to the district hospital where doctors on duty declared him dead.

He was then bundled into the freezer in the mortuary before a post-mortem could be done the next day.

Responding to the matter, Moradabad’s chief medical superintendent, Dr Shiv Singh said a probe has been ordered.

Dr Shiv Singh added that a doctor at the emergency room had seen the patient at around 3am and there was no heartbeat.

“He told me he had examined the man multiple times. Therefore, he was declared dead. In the morning, a police team and his family found him alive. A probe has been ordered and our priority, at the moment, is to save his life,” he said.

Dr Shiv Singh described the matter as one of those “rarest of rare cases”.

Explaining what may have happened, he said sometimes there are difficulties faced while declaring someone dead.

For example, there is ‘suspended animation’ where there is temporary cessation of many vital organs without death which can lead to extraordinary situations.

“We can’t call it negligence (on the part of doctors) until we have all the reports in our hand,” he added.

A doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the portal that Sreekesh was saved from freezing to death due to power supply issues at the hospital.

“As per the guidelines, a body is supposed to be kept in the freezer in order to save it from decaying.”

“The ideal temperature should be below 10 degrees. However, there was an issue of power and the freezer switched on and off. It probably saved the man’s life.”

Sreekesh had since been admitted to another health centre in Meerut where he is expected to make a full recovery.