‘South Africa is a movie’: Hijackers make off with coffin

In a bizarre incident on one of South Africa’s roads, some thugs made off with a coffin after hijacking a hearse.

Video footage of the alleged hijacking amassed more than 1.7 million views within the space of a day after it was posted on the popular video-sharing platform TikTok.

In the clip shared by @coach.champ3, the alleged hijacking is showcased with the undertaker being forced to lie down on the ground by a hijacker armed with a rifle.

While his partners in crime run off with the coffin, the armed hijacker can be seen kicking the undertaker before disappearing out of view.

Shock hearse hijacking: Mzansi reacts

The viral footage continues to spark conversation online. Some viewers expressed their disbelief, while others attempted to make light of the unusual theft. Take a look…

Nghgoosen: “This cannot be real, but we live in South Africa.”

Antony: “South Africa is a movie. Even the dead can be robbed.”

D.mpleee hun22: “What! Did they just steal a dead body…SA mara?”

Marli Pieters: “What do they want from that dead body? People still think it is funny, wow. Not even a joke.”

Some wild theories around what might have transpired also surfaced in the comment section.

Thabiso03: “No man, the guy was a gangster, so they planned this part, hijacked him in his coffin, but it was just the gangs bidding him farewell…”

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Hearse hijackings

Meanwhile in April this year, a Toyota Quantum carrying four corpses was hijacked by armed men while en route to Durban.

According to police spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, the driver was robbed of his wallet and cellphone before he was dropped off by the hijackers.

The police explained that the driver was transporting the four bodies in a company vehicle of Icebolethu Funerals.

The stolen hearse was later found abandoned with the bodies inside.

ALSO READ: Gone in 60 minutes: Hijackers strip Toyota Hilux…with owner ‘attached’

Stuck in mud? No problem…

Back in 2011, a pair of armed men hijacked a hearse at a traffic light in  Southridge Park in Mthatha, Eastern Cape.

As they drove off, the hearse got stuck in mud in a nearby village, forcing the hijackers to abandon the vehicle.

The determined duo then headed for the funeral parlour where they overpowered a guard and made off with another hearse, loaded with specialist equipment, including casket-lowering devices.

Corpse for ransom

Nothing beats the shocking incident which took place in April 2019 in Rivers, Nigeria, during which gunmen hijacked an ambulance, took a woman’s corpse “hostage” and then demanded a ransom. 

“The family had hired an ambulance with which it was conveying the remains of the woman home for burial,” Daily Trust reported at the time.

“On the way, a group of armed men, decked in flowing white robes and armed with  AK-47 rifles, waylaid the ambulance, took the casket hostage, demanding N1,000,000 from the bereaved’s family for its release.”

In another tragic turn of events, when the son of the deceased went to the scene to demand the release of his mother’s corpse, the armed men shot and killed him. 

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