Woman pronounced dead found alive inside morgue fridge

A South African woman who 'died' was discovered alive in a mortuary fridge.

The unnamed woman had shown "no form of life" before the country's ambulance service, known as Distress Alert, had declared her dead at the scene of a pile-up, according to South African website TimesLive.

But workers at Carletonville morgue, in Gauteng, found her alive and breathing in the fridge when they checked on the body several hours after the crash.

The woman is now being treated at a hospital in Johannesburg.

A family member told the BBC they were in shock and demanded answers:

As a family we won't talk about this unless the police, paramedics and the mortuary officials who were involved are present.

We need answers.

He added:

The issue is that we need answers, that's all we want and we don't have any clarity now.

Defending their actions, Distress Alert operations manager Gerrit Bradnick told the BBC here was "no proof of any negligence" on his company's behalf. He added:

This did not happen because our paramedics are not properly trained.

Bradnick said all the necessary checks were done to declare the woman deceased and that "the crew is absolutely devastated", he told news24.

An investigation into the incident is being carried out.

HT BBC

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