A chemical reaction between embalming fluids apparently sparked a fire in a man's casket in a small church minutes after his wake ended, authorities said Friday.
Workers at Mt. Gillian Baptist Church were horrified Wednesday night to find smoke pouring from the closed coffin of a local man shortly after mourners left, Baton Rouge arson investigator Haley Carter told Reuters."When I got the call about a burning coffin, I had to make them repeat the transmission. I couldn't believe it," Carter said. "It really threw me when I got there and found out there was a body inside. I never heard of anything like this."
Carter said morticians from Winnfield Funeral Home were called to the church earlier in the evening to work on the dead man, whose name was not released at his family's request, because of complaints of an odor coming from the casket.
The body was not badly burned and the man was buried Friday in a new coffin, he said.
The funeral home declined to comment on the incident.