Cyronics company freezes its first client in hope of bringing him back to life in future

A cryonics company has frozen its first ever client in the hopes that he can be brought back to life in the future.

Philip Rhoades, of Southern Cryonics, has announced that the company has successfully cryogenically frozen a man from Sydney.

The man passed away in his 80s earlier this month.

"[It was] very stressful," Rhoades told ABC News.

"That was what was keeping me awake for a week because there are a number of different procedures to go through for different days, and there were a number of situations that might have gone wrong if we hadn't prepared properly.

The process began in hospital (Getty Stock Photo)

"There were a couple of other people who were existing members who we thought might be likely candidates for being the first but, as it turned out, it was someone who wasn't an existing member.

"His family rang up out of the blue and we had about a week to prepare and get organised."

The man passed away on 12 May at a hospital in Sydney and the process - which costs around $170,000AUD (£88,000) of freezing his body - began immediately.

The man's body was moved into the hospital's cold room and packed in ice, before being moved to A O'Hare Funeral Directors where experts pumped a liquid through the body to preserve cells.

The body was then packed in dry ice, bringing the temperature down to minus 80 degrees celsius.

Once the man's body arrived at the Southern Cryonics' Holbrook facility the next day, his temperature was taken down further to minus 200 degrees celsius before being placed in a special tank which acts as a vacuum storage pod.

This 10-hour process is all to ensure the chance of the person being brought back to life, ABC News reports.

Liquid nitrogen is used in the process (Getty Stock Photo)

"We went through using crash test dummies and other things to make it as real as possible for all the testings that we went through, so all of that groundwork paid off," Rhoades added.

Many people have wondered what the future holds if they were to come back to life after being cryogenically frozen.

In a video on the Southern Cryonics website, they explain: "In 50 to 100 years we believe we will have the capability to upload the mind to a virtual world.

"Modern developments going on now... will start coming to fruition.

"In 250 years, it will be likely that medical technology will be available to shift your mind to a healthy young body in the real world should you wish.

"You will have all the knowledge of the past plus all the knowledge of the virtual world."

Topics: World News, Science, Australia