Mourners at a funeral in Egypt swapped tears for cheers when the 'dead' body they were burying woke up. Hamdi Hafez al-Nubi, a 28-year-old waiter from Naga al-Simmanm, near Luxor was declared dead after suffering a heart attack at work.

Presumed dead: Mourners at an Egyptian funeral (file photo)

His body was being prepared for burial when a doctor, sent to sign his death certificate, discovered he was still warm. Family members were so convinced Mr al-Nubdi was dead they had already washed his body, according to Islamic tradition, and were preparing to bury him on Friday evening.

After finding he was still warm, the doctor checked his vital signs and discovered he was still breathing. She quickly revived Mr al-Nubdi - along with his mother, who had fainted when she heard her son wasn't dead. Hamdi Hafez al-Nubi lives close to the historical city of Luxor

Rather than cancel the funeral, mourners turned the party into a celebration of Mr al-Nubdi's "resurrection". It's not the first time someone has come 'back from the dead' at their own funeral.

Just last month a 95-year-old Chinese woman climbed out of her own coffin six days after she was thought to have died following a fall. Li Xiufeng was found motionless and not breathing in bed by a neighbour two weeks after tripping and suffering a head injury at her home in Beiliu, Guangxi Province.

When the neighbour who found her could not wake the pensioner up, they feared the worst and thought the elderly woman had passed away. She was placed in a coffin which was kept in her house unsealed under Chinese tradition for friends and relatives to pay respects. But the day before the funeral, neighbours found an empty coffin, and later discovered the 95-year-old, who had since woken up, in her kitchen cooking.