Bizarre: Parents pack boy’s body in salt to bring him back to life

BALLARI: Believing in an unsubstantiated social media post, the parents of a boy, who died after drowning in a pond, packed his body in heaps of salt, hoping to see him come back to life, at Sirwar village of Ballari district on Sunday.

The boy, 10-year-old Suresh H, drowned on Sunday when he had gone to swim in a pond. The family and other villagers trusted the social media post, which said if the body of a drowned victim is packed in salt for four to five hours the person will come back alive, followed the instructions.

The boy’s relative Thippeswamy Reddy said, “The parents had seen the social media post recently, and in their desperation to bring Suresh back to life, they followed the instructions. We bought around 10 kg of salt, packed the body and waited for six hours, but nothing happened.”

Some villagers informed the police and doctors, who visited the village and declared the boy dead. Later, the boy was cremated at the village graveyard.