A family in Malaysia was about to cremate their deceased son when they found out that the body of their supposed “son” was not their son at all, according to the New Straits Times.
The incident happened on 5 March in Taman Desa p Permai, Tampin, Negeri Sembilan.
The father, 45-year-old Chantren, was told on 3 March that his son had died on 2 March while under custody at the Sungai Buloh Prison, and was told to claim the body from the Sungai Buloh Hospital.
Chantren didn’t know why his son was in prison in the first place.
The family was also apparently not allowed to see their son’s body at the hospital and were reportedly told to come back the next day after the autopsy was completed.
When they came back the next day and signed the necessary paperwork, were finally allowed to see their son’s body but noticed that the body didn’t look like their son at all.
However, they just brushed it off as being because of the surgical marks and stitches on the body’s head, and claimed the body anyway, bringing their “son” home.
The next morning, while the grieving family was about to cremate the body, they got a phone call from the Prisons Department telling them that they had the wrong body.
They said that the body was actually their son’s cellmate who had died from lung failure and that their son is actually still alive, before asking them to do a video call.
The prison’s department then video-called them and showed them their son, alive and well.
The puzzled family said that they don’t even know how to express their feelings, “our son is still alive, but whose body is at our house now?”
The mix-up had resulted in the family forking out about RM20,000 for the funeral costs, and they demanded answers from the prison department.