A 50-year-old South African grandfather woke up screaming in a morgue where he had been wrongly placed by a private undertaker who thought the man had died, Times Live reports.

Eastern Cape health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo says the undertaker in Libode in the Transkei region picked up the man Saturday after his family had been unable to awaken him, the Johannesburg newspaper reports.

The grandfather did wake up-- 21 hours later -- inside a freezing morgue and began screaming to be let out.

Initially, two mortuary workers "ran for their lives," thinking they'd heard a ghost, Kupelo says. The man was treated for dehydration at a hospital and released, the newspaper says.

Kupelo, in something of an understatement, says the incident shows that the funeral industry needs to be better regulated.

"You begin to ask yourself, how many people have died like that in a morgue," he says.

Kupelo says the man's grandson posted a note on Facebook to try to explain what happened.

"He got all defensive about it," Kupelo says.

Updated at 1:46 p.m. ET: Morgue owner Ayanda Maqolo tells the AP that the morgue driver who picked up the man "examined the body, checked his pulse, looked for a heartbeat, but there was nothing."

When the man sat up the next day and began screaming, Maqolo said he and his staff were scared, and he called police. "I was glad they had their firearms, in case something wanted to fight with us," Maqolo said.

He said the man was pale when they pulled him out. "He asked, 'How did I get here?'" Maqolo said.

Maqolo says he is still trying to recover from the experience.

"I couldn't sleep last night, I had nightmares," he tells the AP. "But today I'm much better."