Ismail Azizi, a 40-year-old man from Tanzania, died in a car crash — or so doctors thought. He hit a fuel truck and was thrown from his car. He hit the road so hard he went into a coma. At the hospital, doctors reported no detectable brain activity and in rural Tanzania that ment sending him to the morgue. But his family refused to bury him. Then he woke up. Even more incredibly, Azizi’s family had refused to bury him because the car crash was just one of six times he was presumed dead and miraculously pulled through.

1. Declared dead after a work accident, woke up in the morgue
2. Declared dead after a long battle with malaria, woke up in a coffin
3. Tested brain-dead after a violent car crash, woke up in the morgue
4. Declared dead after a snake bite, woke up after three days alone in the morgue
5. Presumed dead after drowning in a septic pit, recovered
6. Burned alive by an angry mob, woke up in morgue and escaped into the woods

A journalist from the Afrimax YouTube channel traveled to Ukelewe, the village where Azizi was born. During the interview, Azizi reluctantly told the story of all six “deaths.” He admits that after his traumatic work accident, regaining consciousness in the dark morgue was terrifying. “I woke up again feeling very cold.”

Luckily for Azizi, he wasn’t locked in a box like in some morgues. His body had just been laid inside, and once he was awake, he could find his way outside.

Declared dead again, and again, and again

Naturally, Azizi’s village was abuzz after his bizarre brush with death. Some time later, he fell sick with malaria. A doctor tested him for vital signs and declared him dead. This time, everyone truly thought he was dead and they even placed him in a coffin. He says, “I woke up at my own funeral… When I got up and walked, I wasn’t fully conscious, but I saw everyone staring at me in shock.”

At this point, the townspeople grew suspicious of Azizi. “People started treating me as if I were a witch.” Then came the car crash. You’d think the doctors would be much more cautious about declaring Azizi dead, but when they decided he was brain-dead, they sent him back to the morgue. And he woke up there again. “After that, life went on but people didn’t believe I was a real person.”

Next was the snake bite, which was exceptional because even after Azizi was declared dead, his family wasn’t in town to bury the “immortal man.” Sure enough, after an entire three days on a slab, he woke up on the day of his funeral. Afterwards, he sadly said, “People consider me the most powerful witch in our area.” Even his own brothers mistrusted him.

Lessons learned in death

Azizi insists he doesn’t traffic in any form of witchcraft. He has no clue why he’s still alive. But that wasn’t good enough for his neighbors. After he fell into a septic pit, seemingly drowned, and was declared dead again before waking up a fifth time, they’d had it. The town surrounded Azizi’s house and lit it on fire. He appeared to die of smoke inhalation — but you’d think at this point everyone would double-check. They didn’t.

Azizi woke up in the morgue, covered in severe burns, and escaped into the woods. There, he still lives alone. He wears the scars of his burns on his arms and is a sad outcast. When asked what he’d learned during his six brushes with death, Azizi said, “Live well even if you have problems. Put God first and don’t hurt those around you. Because sometimes what happens is beyond their control.”

Is the story true? You can decide for yourself: Watch Azizi’s interview, and interviews with other members of his village, in the video below: