Dhaka, Sep 02: The body of a 105-year-old Bangladeshi woman was exhumed intact six years after her death and reburied after a fresh funeral participated by hundreds of stunned villagers, a newspaper reported today. The reburial took place on Saturday in remote riverside Chushmarchar village of northern Rangpur district after three surviving sons of Ayesha Khatun went to local mosque priests and elders claiming their mother in dreams asked each of them to shift her to a new grave in view of threatening river erosion.

Khatun died in November 1997 at the age of 105, the mass-circulation daily Janakantha reported, adding the priests went to the family grave and dug out the body which to their surprise showed no sign of decomposition. The report said the sons and relatives were allowed to organise new Muslim funeral rites and the woman was reburied in a nearby village graveyard.

Local officials in Rangpur, 248 kilometers northwest of Dhaka, were not available for comment.

Bureau Report