The family of a man in Argentina who died from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has stormed a morgue to steal his body in an attempt to stop it from being cremated and ‘burned down like a dog.’
Ramon Juarez’s family is now under investigation after snatching his body from a morgue in Tartagal, Argentina.
In a footage that circulated on social media, about 20 people—including the man’s kids, nephews, nieces, and neighbors—went to the morgue and stole his body placed inside a black bag on a stretcher.
The hospital’s director already filed a complaint about the family, and investigation is now underway to determine the corpse’s whereabouts.
“The patient was admitted with a heart problem which was treated and returned to hospital the following day after his situation worsened and he started suffering breathing problems. Those breathing problems led to a fatal heart attack, but the protocol that is now in place is that in such cases we also have to link this clinical situation with COVID-19 until we can prove the opposite,” the doctor said.
According to local reports, Juarez’s daughter Daniela insisted that he did not die from COVID-19, and that he succumbed to heart attack.
“For the hospital everything is COVID-19. If my father had had that, at least one of our family would be infected, but no-one is. We were told we weren’t going to be given his body to pay our last respects because he had COVID-19. That’s just not true because he had a cardiac arrhythmia. They only wanted to let me have five minutes with him before they burned him like a dog,” she said.
She added that they decided to steal the corpse after their protest outside the morgue failed to convince them to not cremate his body. She said they bathed him, changed him, and ‘left him like a prince.’
Sources also revealed that the family buried Juarez but did not disclose where.
