Assumed Dead, Woman Returns After Family Cremates Wrong Body

File photo of a cremation in Karad.

(Photo: PTI)

A 75-year-old woman in Andhra Pradesh who recovered from COVID-19 returned home on Wednesday, 3 June, only to find that her family had cremated another body assuming it to be hers.

The bizarre incident occurred in Jaggaiahpet town in the state’s Krishna district.

According to locals, the woman, Girijamma from Christianpet, had tested positive for COVID and was admitted to a government hospital in Vijayawada on May 12, after which her husband Gaddayya returned home.

When Gaddayya went to check on her on May 15, he couldn’t find her. Hospital staffers told him that she might have been shifted to another ward.

Gaddayya failed to find Girijamma even after thoroughly checking all the wards in the hospital. Finally, the hospital staff told Gaddayya to check for his wife in the mortuary.

When he went there, he saw the corpse of a person who resembled his wife and informed the staff, who released the body and issued a death certificate in her name.

The family took the body home and cremated it. With the couple’s son, Ramesh, also succumbing to COVID-19 on May 23, Gaddayya organised the final rites for Girijamma and Ramesh together on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Girijamma, who was still at the hospital, recovered. According to reports, she wondered why no one had come to take her home and returned on her own on Wednesday.

Her appearance came as a shock to Gaddayya and the rest of his family. The elderly couple is now grieving for their son Ramesh.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh recorded 12,768 new cases of COVID, 15,612 recoveries and 98 deaths in the latest 24-hour period ending at 9 am on Wednesday. The number of active COVID-19 cases dropped to 1.43 lakh, the latest bulletin said. The cumulative positive cases have increased to 17.17 lakh, recoveries to 15.62 lakh and deaths to 11,132, it said.

(This article was first published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)