A funeral is a traumatic event for all those involved. Unfortunately, the final goodbye for one Pennsylvania man became a nightmare for his family when the pallbearers suffered injuries of their own and ended up in an open grave with the casket. Now, the Philadelphia family wants answers, and they’re blaming the cemetery and the funeral home for being negligent on one of the hardest days of their lives.
According to The Daily Mail, a Pennsylvania man named Benjamin Aviles passed away in March. During his funeral, his family chose to bury him in a Philadelphia cemetery. However, the event turned even more tragic when the pallbearers carried the casket to the grave and ended up falling into the hole when a wooden platform underneath them collapsed.
The shocking scene was caught on video, and the funeral goers were stunned to see the accident unfold. As the group of men carrying the casket headed to place the coffin on top of a platform, the wood beneath their feet crumbled, and the coffin, along with the pallbearers, tumbled into the earth. It was reported that all of the men suffered injuries, with the late Aviles’ son bearing the brunt of the fall.
“The casket lay on top of him, and he was out like a light with his face in the mud,” Aviles’ stepdaughter Maribelle Rodriguez told ABC6. “The whole thing was trembling. It was wobbly, the wood was all wet and soaked,’ Rodriguez said of the platform.
Pennslyvania Funeral Goes From Bad To Worse When Philadelphia Men Fall Into Open Grave
Rodriguez went on to say that the family thinks both the funeral home and the cemetery are at fault. She claims that they now want some sort of retribution for the incident.
“I think they should apologize. There should be some reimbursement, being that the ceremony was interrupted; nothing was done properly.”
Of course, people were stunned to see the video of the horrible funeral incident. Many had strong thoughts about the situation.
“This is my worst nightmare,” one person commented.
“One more argument for cremation,” another stated.
“Everything about that grave site looks not to code,” said one commenter.
“That would have been quite unsettling,” a fourth comment read.
“Wet Pennslyvania ground and a funeral is not a good combination. Just Horrifying,” wrote another.
Meanwhile, others told the family to get a lawyer as it seemed something just wasn’t right about the gravesite. Whether the wood was in bad condition or the grave wasn’t dug properly, the Philadelphia family seems to want answers when it comes to the tragedy that befell them while laying their loved one to rest.
