Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

The superstitious family of a man dead and buried for over a week dug him up in the hope of an Easter resurrection after they heard noise from his grave and a psychic claimed he was alive.

Picture Credits: CEN

However, medics at two separate hospitals later dashed their hopes by confirming that the rigid, cold corpse was still dead.

The startling incident occurred in the municipality of Tumaco, in the western Colombian department of Colombia after father-of-ten Fidel Pantoja, 50, died.

Pantoja died after suffering from lung issues and his body was placed in a coffin which was then placed in a vault at a local cemetery.

The husband’s widow, Maria Gladys Marin, was so distraught by his death she needed to be hospitalised and kept saying “I am going to wait for him to arrive because he will come,” according to reports.

Local media report 10 days after Pantoja died relatives visiting the cemetery heard “strange noises” coming from inside his coffin and so decided to break it open.

The family are said to have believed Pantoja had resurrected in a “Holy Week miracle” and they took the body to a local spiritualist.

Local doctor Marian Rosero said the medium, who has not been named, “told them (the family) that he was still alive”, but the medic confirmed that the corpse was in fact in a “postmortem state.”

The family then took the body to the local hospital to receive confirmation Pantoja had resurrected, but doctors could do nothing more than confirm he was dead.

The family then reportedly took the body to another hospital where doctors told them the same sad news.

The authorities are set to carry out an autopsy on the border to determine the cause of death and to confirm the time of death.