The family of a 12-year-old girl who was pronounced dead were left dumbfounded when she woke as they washed her body for her funeral.
The girl, named as Siti Masfufah Wardah, was admitted to a hospital in Probeolinggo in Indonesia province of East Java for chronic diabetes and organ complications on August 18. She was then declared dead at 6 pm the same day.
Her body was taken to her home at 7 pm so that family members could clean it and begin the funeral procedures.
Loved ones were about to wash the girl’s body when she abruptly woke up again, according to her father.
The dad, identified only as 40-year-old Ngasiyo, said that when her body was being washed, her body temperature quickly warmed and her closed eyes suddenly opened and they found that her heart was beating again and her body moved.
The girl was taken back into the house and doctors were called to the scene where medics helped the girl with respiratory assistance and oxygen, but she reportedly passed away again an hour later.
So-called corpse revival is also known as Lazarus syndrome or return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) which happens in patients who have died of heart failure.
According to medical reports, 82 per cent of ROSC incidents transpire after ten minutes a person is confirmed dead after being given respiratory aid and after her death was confirmed a second time, Siti’s body was washed again and buried in the Lambangkuning Village Cemetery.
Lumbang Police Chief AKP Muhammad Dugel confirmed the incident and he also attended the scene and said the investigation was ongoing.
He added that it was true that there had been an incident where the girl died and came back to life, after previously being treated at the Dr Mochamad Saleh Regional Hospital and that when she was washed her body came back to life and for about an hour she was alive and then died again.
Approximately 90 per cent of the population in Indonesia is Muslim, and as part of the Islamic funeral rites, it’s the duty of the family to wash the body according to a particular custom prescribed for washing the body of the dead.
But what a traumatic experience this must have been for the family and what a painful ordeal to have to go through twice. However, this is not the first incident, in Karachi, a woman was declared dead at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and miraculously came back to life while being given a funeral bath.
According to the woman’s family, 50-year-old Rasheeda Bibi was moved to the public hospital, where doctors not only declared her dead but also issued a death certificate.
Her body had been shifted to the morgue for 20 minutes and her family began giving her a funeral bath.
A woman that was present in the room noticed her limbs moving when they quickly checked her pulse to find she was still breathing – the woman had already been covered in a funeral shroud by the time she was found alive – Rasheeda was then moved to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Back in 2015, workers at an Edhi mortuary in Karachi were also were given a rude awakening when a pregnant woman, who was being prepared for burial, abruptly sat up and began reciting the Kalma.
Manzoora Bibi was also being given a funeral bath when she got up and took everyone by surprise.
