Farooq Siddique, chair of the Muslim Burial Working Group committee, says the issues have been ongoing for decades. As a result, on at least two occasions the bodies of those set to be buried have fallen from coffins in awful scenes for friends and families.
Mourners at a funeral procession were left horrified after a body fell out of a coffin when the bottom of the coffin gave way.
A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador was found to be alive and knocking on her coffin during her own wake in the city of Babahoyo. “I lifted up the coffin, and her heart was pounding, and her left hand was hitting the coffin…
Researchers studying the process of decomposition in a body after death from natural causes found that, without any external “assistance,” human remains can change their position. This discovery has important implications for forensic science.
But by 50 years, the tissues will have liquefied and disappeared, leaving behind mummified skin and tendons. Eventually these too will disintegrate, and after 80 years in that coffin, your bones will crack as the soft collagen inside them deteriorates, leaving nothing but the brittle mineral frame behind.
Do they remove organs when you are embalmed? One of the most common questions people have about embalming is whether or not organs are removed. The answer is no; all of the organs remain in the body during the embalming process.
If the ground is light, dry soil, decomposition is quicker. Generally speaking, a body takes 10 or 15 years to decompose to a skeleton. Some of the old Victorian graves hold families of up to eight people. As those coffins decompose, the remains will gradually sink to the bottom of the grave and merge.
For open casket viewings family members are often given private time to view the body to allow them to grieve. Generally, you are not allowed to touch the body or make any comments about the person's appearance.
The body takes between ten to fifteen years to decay to a point where you may just find bones, teeth and hair remaining in the casket. There may also be some excess tissue and clothing fibers that withstood the ten years of decay.
OPEN-CASKET FUNERAL ETIQUETTE
If they have an open casket viewing, make sure you follow proper funeral etiquette: DON'T touch the body under any circumstances. Sometimes the casket has a glass to prevent this from happening.
Traumatic injuries to the lower body Depending on the cause of death, the legs and lower body may not be presentable for an open-casket ceremony. Covering them draws attention away from injuries due to things like car accidents and toward the face of the departed.
Nothing physically prevents a casket from being unlocked and reopened before it is buried in a grave. When preparing for a funeral, funeral directors will seal, lock, and reopen caskets several times. They may close and seal it shut for transport to the funeral, then open it during the service.
A private grave will normally hold four adult interments, but no guarantees can be made as ground conditions vary from time to time and from place to place, which affects grave capacity. We do our utmost to dig the graves at maximum depth.
Standard caskets usually weigh 160 to 220 lbs, depending on the material. They can carry a body that weighs up to 300 lbs (136 kg). Oversized caskets typically weigh 220 to 280 lbs (100 to 113 kg) and have a weight capacity of around 500 lbs.
So what happens to the body in casket after 2 months? After bloating, it enters the 3rd phase, or 'Active Decay,' where organs liquefy. The body will lose mass, slowly revealing the skeleton. If you open the casket of a non-embalmed body, it will be more decomposed than an embalmed body in a few months or years.
After a few weeks, nails and teeth will fall out. After 1 month, the liquefaction process commences. During this stage the body loses the most mass. The muscles, organs and skin are liquefied, with the cadaver's bones, cartilage and hair remaining at the end of this process.
3-5 days after death — the body starts to bloat and blood-containing foam leaks from the mouth and nose. 8-10 days after death — the body turns from green to red as the blood decomposes and the organs in the abdomen accumulate gas. Several weeks after death — nails and teeth fall out.
Everyone can say their final “goodbye.” Allows friends and family members to kiss the deceased goodbye one last time. The family can hold the decedent's hand. Everyone can take comfort in seeing the deceased looking beautiful and at peace.
Benefits of Open Casket
Allows friends and family members to kiss the deceased goodbye one last time. Everyone can take comfort in seeing the deceased looking beautiful and at peace. It can bring closure to close kin, knowing that the loved one is in peace.
There is no need to worry that the open casket funeral will be traumatising, the body will only be displayed if it is in good shape. If your loved one died from a traumatic accident or was badly burned, then they will not be displayed in an open casket funeral.
Morgues keep dead bodies until they can be identified or undergo an autopsy. Hospitals include morgues for the bodies of patients who have died until they can be taken away to a funeral home. The morgue keeps the body refrigerated to prevent biological decay.
A hospital is allowed to keep the body of a deceased person in a hospital mortuary for up to 21 days after the date of death (section 80 of the Regulation).
Caskets made from either metal or wood will take an average of 50 or more years to decompose underground. The casket's duration depends on the type of wood used to build it and the composition of chemicals found on the grave.