Dubai: An Egyptian woman was shocked to see herself being pronounced dead and mourned on social media with funeral prayers slated at dhuhr (noon prayer), local media reported.
The fake news of her death was announced on Facebook, together along her photo, by a stranger on a group dedicated to residents of Burma village where the woman lives, in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt.
Saddened by the news, the family and relatives of the woman rushed from Alexandria and Cairo to the village to attend the funeral prayers.
The shocked woman she works at a company where she is required to switch off her mobile during working hours.
“While on a break, I switched on my mobile and was surprised to receive so many notifications of people trying to call me following the post that declared me dead,” the woman said, adding, “when I read the news, I could not believe it and was in a very bad psychological state. Some people claimed I died as a result of being run over by a train while others said I had died of a heart attack."
Describing what exactly happened, the woman’s brother said: “One morning at 8am, I was surprised by a phone call from a villager informing me of the death of my sister, after seeing a post on a Facebook page with the funeral timings set for noon in the mosque near the tombs.
"I was almost sleeping when I received the call but upon hearing the news, I was traumatised and went down to the street in a state of panic and anxiety, heading quickly to my sister’s residence. I tried to call her several times but her phone was off."
“I had a nervous shock, as I did not know what exactly happened to my sister. I even bought a shroud to bury my sister,” the man said.
However, at 12pm that day, I received a call from my sister’s phone after she turned it on and was not sure who was speaking. A few minutes later, I realised that she was still alive and the incident had been fabricated."
“We will take legal actions against those who fabricated her death," the woman’s brother said.
“The fake news of my death spread like wild fire in the village and I refused to return to the village until late in the night,” the woman said. “On the next day, many villagers flocked to my house to offer their condolences on my death. However, they were shocked to see me alive. Some people could not believe it and told me: “No way you are Amina (her name), you are a ghost”.
The woman said the incident had tramatised her, and she would take legal action against those who spread the news.
