Dead man saved from burning hearse

A body slated for cremation had to be pulled from a burning hearse on Wednesday, narrowly avoiding further emotional agony for the grieving family, which may have been devastated had it been consumed by the inferno.

The dramatic incident, which unfolded in Stony Hill, St Andrew, around 7 p.m., was captured in a viral video showing the flaming hearse, with the deceased man's body wrapped in tarpaulin lying nearby. Jonah Fairclough, owner of Jonah's Mortuary, praised his staff for their quick thinking in rescuing the body just moments before the vehicle exploded.

"I told them, 'Try to save the body, try to retrieve that no matter what,'" Fairclough recounted. "So they were able to take out the body after opening the bonnet, and as they took it out, the hearse exploded."

According to Fairclough, his staff picked up the body in St Mary and were heading to its storage facility in Kingston when the incident occurred. He said the team purchased gasolene for the vehicle along the route, and it appeared that heavy rains may have caused a serious malfunction of the hearse, leading to the fire.

"I don't know if it's the water that hit some filter or something under the bottom of the vehicle, but it caused the gas to start running. People said that they saw smoke coming from the hearse, so they pulled over. When they opened the bonnet, the whole thing just exploded," he said. Fairclough said the driver and assistant acted quickly to remove the body before the fire spread. Despite his relief that the body was intact, Fairclough lamented the devastating losses his team endured.

"Well, this has created a total diversion because they're not working today. They were all there shocked, crying--grown men. I asked them if they wanted to go to the doctor. It's like they're traumatised, plus everything is damaged. Their bags, their phones, nothing was saved. All the equipment and devices we use for operations, everything," he said.

While the deceased was set for cremation, Fairclough emphasised the importance of handling the body with care.

"Although it's a cremation, we didn't want it to be cremated in that manner," he said. Despite the emotional toll on his team and the loss of the hearse, Fairclough reasoned that "it could have been worse".

"I give God thanks," he said. "And you see how life is? I just put on four rims, four tyres, and that's so expensive. Plus, to license and insure it, it mess me up, man."

Fairclough, who has operated Jonah's Mortuary for nearly 31 years, reflected on the long road he's travelled in the funeral business but remains positive despite this setback.

"I've been doing this since 1993, as soon as I left college and went to study overseas. It's a long time, but I'm glad my staff were able to save the deceased, even though we lost the vehicle." The hearse, now a charred wreck, was eventually towed from the scene.