Four Chinese officials were fired Monday after a male senior citizen from Shanghai was loaded into a body bag and transported through his nursing home despite still being alive.
Videos of the alleged mortuary workers discovering the man was still alive started circulating online Sunday and soon went viral, the BBC reported. The workers can be seen pulling the yellow body bag open, with one reportedly saying that the patient was still alive, the outlet continued. (RELATED: Chinese Ambassador Denies Uyghur Genocide, Claims They Are Happy)
What is going on in #Shanghai?! Horror as an elderly man was mistakenly declared dead and taken to a morgue in a body bag prompting concerns over the city’s overwhelmed medical system during weeks long Omicron lockdowns
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) May 3, 2022
Officials in Putuo, Shanghai, confirmed that the incident was real late Monday night, the BBC noted. The man in the body bag was transported to a local hospital where he is reported to be in stable condition, the outlet continued. Authorities in the district said that five people and a doctor were under investigation after the incident sparked widespread outrage on Chinese social media, the BBC reported.
Users of China’s Twitter-like platform “Weibo” commented in disbelief about the incident, with one user saying, “the problems in Shanghai are fully exposed this time,” according to CNN. Other users noted that the elderly man could have easily been cremated or buried had the mortuary workers not discovered he was still alive, the outlet noted.