West African funeral rites increasingly feature dancing troupes of pallbearers, but the trend may disappear following one recent viral video which showed the deceased’s remains unceremoniously dumped in front of their family.

In the video, shared widely online, a group of Ghanaian funeral pallbearers lose control of the casket, spilling the deceased person’s remains onto the ground as friends and family members could only look on in horror. The pallbearers themselves simply throw their arms in the air in despair at their carelessness.

[📽Viral video] Pallbearers stumble and drop coffin carrying body. Are these things necessary? #OnuaFMpic.twitter.com/mJXrP7nwa6 — Onua 95.1 FM (@onua951fm) May 3, 2019

“There are handles on both sides of the coffin for a reason, use them please...” wrote John McCoy Hassell on YouTube.

“After Killing Him..... They want to break His Neck & Leg again,” another user wrote.

Dancing pallbearers have become a popular tradition in West Africa, particularly in Ghana, where the most skilled funereal dancers can command high fees for their work providing the dead with a worthy, rhythmic send off. Many dance to popular songs like SP Kofi Sarpong’s ‘African Borborbo’ featured in the video above.

The macabre choreography may itself die out after this incredibly uncomfortable and profoundly sad incident.

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