Modern-day Lazarus: Thai man rises from dead, runs 3km home

In an almost Biblical tale, a 59 year old Thai man in the Isaan province of Surin came back from the dead. A medical team managed to administer CPR to bring the dead man back to life. Remarkably, the modern-day Lazarus refused further treatment, climbed out of the ambulance and ran more than 3 kilometres back home.

A 33 year old rescuer from the Sawang Arom Rescue Foundation, Worrasethtakorn Sakdasakunkunakorn, revealed that his team was assigned to transport the dead body of a 59 year old Thai man, Prueang Enmak, from his home in the Prasat district of Surin to the Prasat Hospital.

When the rescue team arrived at the dead man’s home, Prueang’s family members were making an unsuccessful CPR attempt to save his life. Rescuers came to their assistance, performing CPR on Prueang for 20 minutes until he came back to life.

However, Prueang was confused when he came around and did not speak to anyone. The rescue team decided to take Prueang to Prasat Hospital for further examination.

Rescuers stopped at Ban Thanong School to transfer Prueang to the hospital. Unexpectedly, Prueang woke up, took off the intravenous line on his hand, and fled from the ambulance. Some nurses reportedly suffered minor injuries during Prueang’s escape.

The rescue team drove their emergency van after Prueang and asked him to stop but he grabbed a wooden stick as a weapon and told the officers to stay away from him.

Prueang continued running for over 3 kilometres until he arrived at his home. Family members managed to calm him down and took him inside the house safely.

Prueang’s 57 year old wife, Sombat Enmak, recounted the moments before her husband’s death in an interview with Channel 7. She said that Prueang had drunk two to three bottles of beer and then took a shower. Sombat became suspicious when Prueang spent too long in the shower and decided to check on him, only to find him lying unconscious on the bathroom floor.

She discovered that Prueang was not breathing and sought help from Prasat Hospital and the rescue team before the aforementioned incident occurred.

Sombat added that a similar incident occurred four to five years ago. Prueang stopped breathing for one night before reviving. Prueang told her about his near-death experience, revealing that he had a chance to enjoy a Thai traditional dance and came back to life after the performance ended.

Prueang told the media that he felt exhausted after the long run. He did not know how he could run that far. At that time, his only thoughts were only to go home, not to a hospital.