Shock as ‘dead man’ walks out of Naivasha hospital mortuary

Relatives of Paul Mutora console him moments after he was taken to the ward after spending 20 hours in the mortuary. He had wrongly been declared dead.  [PHOTO: ANTONY GITONGA/STANDARD]

By Antony Gitonga   

Naivasha, Kenya: Shock and disbelief engulfed Naivasha District Hospital when a man who had been certified dead walked out of the mortuary 20 hours after his “death”.

There was drama as mortuary attendants scampered for dear life when the dead man stirred “back to life”.

When he came to, from his deathly slumber, the 24-year-old suddenly realised that he was among the dead and asked to be let out.

The mortuary attendants did not wait, they took to their heels in all directions.

“One of the attendants ran towards the gate shouting. This drew my attention and I went to see what was happening,” said a guard at the hospital.

The guard entered the morgue in time to see “one of the dead” move his legs and stretch his hands. He also took took off, aghast. He then informed nurses and doctors about the strange goings-on.

The medics went to the mortuary to confirm this, and true to his words they found the man alive and moved him to a ward.

 Paul Mutora, who hails from Limuru,  was admitted to  the hospital on Tuesday in critical condition after he attempted to commit suicide by drinking a pesticide.

Mutora allegedly took the poison after fell he fell out with his father.

The superintendent in charge of the hospital, Dr Joseph Mburu, confirmed the incident saying investigations had been launched to establish how the patient was wrongfully declared dead.

Donkey cart

He attributed the patients ‘dead’ condition to a drug that is used on patients who have taken poisonous substances.

“The drug makes the heart to beat slower and this might have confused medical personnel, but the victim was saved before he could be embalmed,” he said.

Mburu said the patient had previous records of attempted suicide, adding that he was responding well to treatment and would be released from the hospital in the next 24 hours.

According to his father, Mr James Karanja, he had an argument with Paul Mutora after he damaged a donkey cart, which he had sent him to ferry farm produce to the market with.

After the argument, Mutora threatened to commit suicide and hours later he drunk the poison.

“He was rushed to Naivasha District Hospital in critical condition and admitted,” he said.

The father explained that the condition of his son deteriorated on Wednesday evening and at 11pm, the family was informed he had passed on and the body moved to the hospital morgue.

The family started communicating the sad news to friends and relatives.

“The family was notified and the body wheeled to the morgue where it was put on the cold slab with an identification tag. As a family, we started informing relatives of the sad news,” said Karanja.

Yesterday morning, Karanja, accompanied by relatives visited the morgue and viewed the body and returned home to start funeral arrangements.

 “But in the afternoon we were informed, he was alive and were left in shock. We have indeed confirmed he is alive and has been moved to the ward,” the father said.

Mutora who looked confused and groggy asked for forgiveness from his father, saying he had learnt his lesson.

“This was a mistake from the start and I apologise to my father as I prepare to go and take care of my wife and child,” he said.

News that a dead man had ressurrected spread like a bushfire in the lakeside town, attracting scores of curious members of the public who wanted to have a look at the man said to have gone to hell and back.

However, this was not the first time for a ‘dead man’ to come back to the land of the living.

In 2012, a man was  killed by mourners in Nairobi after he came  as they were preparing to transport his body upcountry for burial.

The young man reportedly knocked off the cover of his coffin, sat down and started to untie his tie. Wrongly believing the former university student was a ghost, the mourners attacked him with stones, and killed him instantly.