Ghanaian woman declared dead in Mecca stuns family by returning home
A Ghanaian woman who was declared dead during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has returned home alive, days after her family held her funeral in the capital, Accra.
Fatima Kassim’s return to her neighbourhood in Madina, Ghana, on July 2 stunned residents and left many in disbelief.
Some residents fled in fear after seeing her.
This was after death had earlier been confirmed by Ghana’s consulate in Saudi Arabia, which issued an official death certificate.
Based on this document, her family held Islamic funeral rites shortly after, only to find out later that the confusion was a result of mistaken identity involving two female patients in a Saudi hospital, one travelling on a tourist visa and the other with Ghana’s Hajj delegation.
Officials from the Ghana Hajj Taskforce have since admitted to the error.
According to Alhaji Iddi Sumaila, Director of Administration, when both patients were without their passports, the woman who was still alive was wrongly identified as deceased.
“Usually, when it happens, it is the embassy that takes control, so they issued the certificate. So we knew that one was gone and one was on admission. Mistakenly, we exchanged it,” he said.
Fatima’s family said they were overjoyed but also shocked by the unexpected turn of events.
“I feel happy and sad, because we are still confused about the situation. This is like a wonder,” one relative told local news source Citi News.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
