Dead woman wakes up at morgue in South Africa

A South African woman who had been declared dead in a car crash was discovered alive in the morge.

The woman was found breathing by mortuary technicians several hours after being certified dead by paramedics at the scene of the pile-up outside Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg.

Speaking about it, Distress Alert operations manager Gerrit Bradnick told AFP, “We followed our procedures - we've got no idea how it happened.”

"The crew is absolutely devastated - we're not in the business of declaring living people dead, we're in the business of keeping people alive."

The unnamed woman from Gauteng had "showed no signs of life" following the traffic accident in the early hours of 24 June, Bradnick added.

However, she was found alive in a morgue fridge several hours after the crash in which the victims' car rolled, throwing all three occupants out of the vehicle - killing two of them.

"All the right checks were done - breathing, pulse - so the patient was declared deceased," Bradnick said.

After being discovered alive, the woman was taken to Carletonville hospital where she is now recovering.