Brazil car washer turns up alive at own wake

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A 41-year-old car washer from northeastern Brazil shocked his family by turning up at his own wake after his family mistakenly identified a murdered local man at the morgue as him, local media reported on Tuesday.

Family and friends in the town of Alagoinhas in Bahia state were gathered around the body of another car washer resembling Gilberto Araujo when he showed up after being told of his "death" by a friend who had spotted him in the street.

"I said, 'guys, I'm alive, pinch me,'" Araujo told the O Globo news website. He had not seen his family for about four months until then.

His mother, shopkeeper Maria Menezes, said some of those attending the wake fainted while others fled.

"It was a fright ... I'm very happy because what mother has a son that they say is dead then turns up alive?" she said.

On first learning of the confusion, Araujo tried to call an acquaintance at the wake to inform them he was alive, but his call was dismissed as a prank. The corpse has now been returned, O Globo reported.

(Reporting by Peter Murphy; Editing by Eric Beech)