Drama over dead body at Tema

TWO EMBALMERS at the Tema General Hospital on Saturday caused a stir at the Community 9 cemetery, where they seized a dead body over unpaid balance of an embalmment fee of GH¢40.

The undertakers picked the corpse from the casket and carried it on their shoulders outside the cemetery before the relatives and loved ones gathered around the graveyard and mobilized funds to pay them.

The reason for the commotion was that the bereaved family reportedly failed to pay for the full cost of the services by the undertakers and while they (undertakers) were busily preparing other bodies for burial, the relatives stealthily carried the corpse and headed straight to the cemetery for interment.

Confirming the incident to DAILY GUIDE, an official of the Tema General Hospital morgue who wants to remain anonymous, explained that the family of the deceased deposited the dead person at the morgue for preservation.

The relatives, he said, hired the services of two undertakers – since the hospital does not have undertaking services. He said the corpse was cleaned, dressed and prepared in readiness for burial.

According to the official, the undertakers left to attend to another corpse only to return and noticed that the dressed corpse had disappeared together with the family members.

Fearing they could not recover their balance if they allowed them to bury the corpse, he said the undertakers decided to do the unthinkable by quickly rushing to the cemetery where they met the relatives embarking on final rites to part ways with their loved one. While the body was being interred, they decided to seize the coffin, open it, lift out the dressed corpse and started heading back to the mortuary.

“They threatened to take the body away if they refused to pay them before the burial when one of the relatives dared them to take the body away if they could.

“Immediately, the undertakers opened the casket and removed the dead man from the casket,” according to the hospital official.

Asked how they managed to take the corpse away, the official pointed out, “One held the two legs and the other held his neck and they surprisingly put him on their shoulders and they started moving.”

Mourners, residents and traders at the Community 9 market were shocked to the spine over what had transpired and started running helter-skelter.