S African man wakes after 21 hours in morgue fridge

[LaurenG]

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - 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.

<snip>


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.

Read more: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/safrican-man-wakes-after-21-hours-in-morgue-fridge#ixzz1TgVp8jwm

yikes! :wow:

[sakabatou]

1. Lazarus syndrome?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_syndrome

[Kali]

2. I HATE when that happens...

:hangover:

[LaurenG]

3. I guess he woke up slightly hypothermic too.

I have nightmares about being buried alive. Thankfully they embalm those they think are dead so my nightmare should never come true. :scared:

[Kaleva]

4. Just don't wake up during the embalming process.

[txwhitedove]

5. Ewwwww, that's a chilling story!

;)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. "LOCKED refrigerated compartment"?

Why?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Zombies.

[undeterred]

8. Maybe people steal bodies?

I can think of no earthly reason.

[kimi]

9. Most doors at hospitals I've worked at lock every door

except the ones used by patients. I've heard stories about people wandering around the hospital's basement, looking for the morgue.

Weird story. :scared: Maybe the door to the closet they keep the stethoscopes and EKG monitor in should be kept unlocked. So staff will be encouraged not to pop a living human in the morgue. Sheesh.

[quakerboy]

11. Maybe latched

from the outside, so effectively locked to the man on the inside? I am guessing handles on the inside of morgue storage receptacles are not known for their emergency escape mechanisms.

[Kaleva]

12. "morgue storage.....not known for their emergency escape mechanisms."

:rofl:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. Yeah, but why? Seems like a latch would be more $$$ than just a magnet like my fridge has.

[quakerboy]

17. fridge magnets arent always rock solid

Ive had many a fridge where I had to give the door a second shove to get it to really close.

Plus superstition. From the article it appears slightly more prevalent there than here. They believed it was a ghost, and called the cops before opening the thing, in case a zombie needed shooting.

but even without that, I suspect that is just the customary closure for such things.

[RedCloud]

10. So he was stone cold?

[TK421]

14. he was dying to get out n/t

[Luciferous]

15. I love that the workers thought it was a ghost...

:rofl:

[pokerfan]

16. and no buzzers or bells?

might be a feature to consider in the future...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin

[dembotoz]

18. so hot around here--21 hours in a cooler would be a welcome nap