Man wakes up at own wake

From correspondents in Santiago | January 21, 2008

AN 81-year-old man in the small Chilean village of Angol shocked his grieving relatives by waking up in his coffin at his own wake, local media said today.

When Feliberto Carrasco's family members discovered his body limp and cold, they were convinced the octogenarian's hour had come, so they immediately called a funeral home, not a doctor.

Mr Carrasco was dressed in his finest suit for the wake and his relatives gathered to bid him a final farewell.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought I must be mistaken and I shut my eyes," Mr Carrasco's nephew Pedro told the Ultimas Noticias newspaper.

"When I opened them again, my uncle was looking at me. I started to cry and ran to get something to open up the coffin to get him out."

The man who "rose from the dead" said he was not in any pain and only asked for a glass of water.

Local radio also surprised listeners by announcing a correction to Mr Carrasco's death announcement, saying the news had been premature.