A man who was so badly in debt he decided to fake his own death, ended up going viral on social media by accident when he was filmed "waking up" inside his open casket.
The 40-year-old was filmed by relatives and mourners as he lay in the coffin, but suddenly people were awestruck as he appeared to wake from the dead.
The man and his wife paid for an ambulance with a casket to take them from their home in South Jakarta, Indonesia, to a house where they said they were going to pick up the body of a deceased family member.
The ambulance driver said the couple looked in good health when they boarded the vehicle.
They then requested a brief stop at a highway rest area, during which time the man jumped into the casket.
The driver noticed that he was gone when they resumed their journey to Rancabungur.
The ambulance then began its journey to transport the casket to a clinic with the wife, presumably to have the man pronounced dead.
But he was filmed waking up, presumably not realising what chaos his actions would cause.
The man was transferred to Bogor General Hospital, which had to put out a statement denying that the man had died at any point as the video of him waking up was shared on social media and went viral all over Asia.
After launching a probe into the case, police yesterday said they learned that the man faked his death with the help of his wife.
Bogor Police Chief Iman Imanuddin said: “The ambulance driver testified that they heard the wife complaining about the family’s debt and that many are coming to collect."
He added that both the man and his wife will be questioned as soon as he is declared fit and able.
Under Indonesian law, deliberately misleading authorities is a crime punishable by up to one year in prison.
