KABUL (Pajhwok): A family in the Garziwan district of northwestern Faryab province has buried a body about three weeks ago believing it to be that of a family member but a few days later, the person thought to be dead turned up alive surprising everyone.

A video clip obtained by Pajhwok News Agency showed people in the Dara Zang area of ​​Garziwan district of Faryab province welcoming Hayatullah, a man who was thought to be dead, with surprise and joy.

Hayatullah, who travelled to Iran for work three months ago and was arrested and deported from that country, returned to Faryab, but was transferred to the provincial drug treatment hospital by the anti-narcotics police in Maimana city and hospitalised.

Hayatullah’s brother Rahim told Pajhwok Afghan News that he received a phone call from Maimana Hospital informing him that Hayatullah had passed away.

His younger brother Esmatullah went to Maimana Hospital, where officials handed over the body in Hayatullah’s name based on the ID card found in the pocket of the deceased’s clothes.

The body was washed and buried in the Maimana hospital. The clerics and the religious leaders did not allow the shroud to be opened and the face of the deceased to be seen.

He said: “According to the customs and traditions of the region, family members and relatives gathered on all four sides of the coffin, crying and shouting, approximately one thousand people prayed the funeral prayer, the Fatiha ceremony was held, the funeral and charity were held on Tuesday and Friday night, we owed approximately 130,000 Afghanis to the people. People were still coming to offer condolences when Hayatullah returned home alive”.

Rahim said that Hayatullah is 50 years old and has 10 sons and daughters, he went to Iran due to unemployment and poverty, but a misunderstanding happened which negatively impacted the mental and spiritual condition of his family and burdening them with debt.

Hayatullah told Pajhwok that he was deported from Iran, came to the city of Maimana and was caught by the anti-narcotics police and spent 55 days in a drug treatment hospital without anyone from his family knowing.

He said that while he was alive, his family received his body and was sad and distraught for almost two weeks.

They spent about 150,000 afs on the burial and of the body and he was wondering how to compensate the amount.

Some social media users also questioned the handover of an unidentified body in the name of someone who is alive, saying that in the current situation, technology solves all problems, but how could the relevant authorities did not recognized that a family and a village community were mentally tortured for two weeks?

Public Health Department Director Mufti Fazal Hadi Farooq said that Hayatullah was transferred to the hospital with ten others during a campaign to collect addicts, and his vest was left under a bridge, which was put on by another addict, who died under the bridge due to the cold weather.

He said that the body of the addict was transferred to the hospital by security personnel, and during search of the deceased’s clothes, Hayatullah’s application letter and ID card were obtained. On the bases of those documents, personnel from the relevant agencies contacted Hayatullah’s family.

He added that when Hayatullah’s brother visited Maimana Hospital, he saw the body up close and washed it with the staff and transported it to his hometown, and no one is to blame for this except Hayatullah’s brother.

He said that the body belonged to Jan Agha, a resident of the Khwaja Gohar area of ​​Khwaja Musa district and a drug addict. His family, upon seeing the photo of the body, accepted that it belonged to Jan Agha and had no objection to burying it.

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