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The family of a man who was shot dead decided not to opt for a coffin and instead sat him up on a chair, cigarette in hand and with his eyes wide open to pay their last respects.

The unsettling footage shows Fernando de Jesus Diaz Beato, 26, was embalmed and sitting up on a chair during his send off.

Mr Beato had been shot 15 times in the Villa Carolina neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 3.

While police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the incident - his family chose to pay tribute to him as if he were still alive.

(Image: RT)

Described as a "happy and very active person," he sat in a chair with his legs crossed, dressed in a baseball cap and tracksuit and with a cigarette between his fingers.

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'Everybody is really surprised because seeing him like that is like seeing him as if he were alive,' one of Diaz Beato's sisters said in a video.

Another sister, Ihizz Diaz Beato, said: "We decided to embalm him like this because he was a very happy person, very active and we want to remember him as he was."

The unusual funeral was part of a trend popping up all over the country with the Marin Funeral Home, in Rio Piedras, in San Juan offering the service.

(Image: RT)

Damaris Marin, the owner of Marin Funeral Home, said they worked closely with the family to achieve the desired effect.

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She said: "This time is different because he is seated with his legs crossed but, this is the first dead man in history with his eyes open.

"We have seen that the families wish to see the dead men just as they were when they were alive.

"We gave [the family] a surprise by leaving the eyes of the dead man open.

"I think that this time was the most impressive reaction to any of the work we have done."