Morgue staff were given a nasty shock when a man who had been pronounced dead regained consciousness and began calling for help.
Kenyan hospital authorities have launched an investigation into why Paul Mutora, 24, was declared dead and his body taken to a morgue for embalming.
When two mortuary attendants investigated noises coming from a side room and found what was supposed to be a corpse breathing, they "took to their heels screaming," a witness told Kenya's Star newspaper.
Mr Mutora had been rushed to the hospital in a critical condition after drinking insecticide in an apparent suicide attempt following an argument with his father.
Hospital superintendent Dr Joseph Mburu told television network KTN Kenya that the anti-poison drugs given to Mr Mutora upon arrival at the hospital may have wrongly given the impression he had died.
He said: "The effect of atropines can be sometimes to slowing of heart rate and most of the time it causes dilation of the pupils.
"These two observations are used to make a conclusion that someone has lost their life," he said.