Man Rescued After Being Put In Freezer By Family Who Thought He Was Dead

A 74-year-old man in India was rescued after he was put into a freezer by family members, who were mistakenly under the impression he had died.

Balasubramanyam Kumar had fallen critically ill in his village of Kandhampatti in Tamil Nadu state, and was bed-ridden, The Independent reports.

On Monday afternoon, his relatives noticed he had stopped moving, and began arrangements to deal with his passing, believing he had died.

The family ordered for a large freezer box to be delivered, and placed his body inside so it could be kept for the performance of the last rites.

However, when a staff member from the company supplying the freezer box came to pick up the vessel the following day, he noticed Kumar's body appeared to still be moving.

NDTV

In video footage shared by a Tamil news channel, Kumar's hand can be seen shaking inside the box, while his brother claims he is dead.

A voice filming can be heard asking: "His hands are trembling, how?"

Kumar's brother, identified by Indian media as Saravanan, responds: "Oh, it's fits [seizures]."

The first voice then says: "How can that be possible if he's dead?"

Saravanan responds: "His soul has not left him yet."

When the family checked on Kumar's body, they realised he was still breathing and called for help, with local media saying he had been kept inside the freezer - still alive - for around 20 hours.

NDTV

The Tamil news channel that shared the video clip of Kumar reports that he was taken out of the freezer box immediately, before being rushed to his local hospital in Salem City. He is still undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Sooramangalam Police confirmed to The Independent that they were called to the house on Tuesday (13 October) by the freezer box company.

Sub-inspector Rajasekaran said a case has been opened against the family members who had wrongly declared Jumar dead, having failed to carry out a proper medical check.

The case has been filed under Sections 287 (negligent conduct to endanger human life) and 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.

Topics: World News, News, India

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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