A bride in India collapsed suddenly and died on her wedding day.
Instead of mourning the death of his bride-to-be, the groom and his family decided he should marry her sister instead. The incident occurred during the final stages of a traditional India wedding ceremony.
The bride, identified as Surbhi, collapsed beside groom-to-be Manjesh Kumar while they were exchanging traditional garlands. Family members and doctors attending attempted to revive her.
Doctors pronounced the woman dead of cardiac arrest. Both parties took a moment and convened following the incident before arriving at the new arrangement.
"We did not know what to do in the situation. Both the families sat together and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom," Surbhi's brother Saurabh said during an interview.
Bride dies of heart attack at her wedding in India, so groom reportedly marries sister https://t.co/X9y32658iG pic.twitter.com/tssOKh7Cdd — New York Post (@nypost) June 2, 2021
Parents of the bride and the groom agreed. The body of Surbhi was kept in another room while her sister got married. Her body was later moved.
"It was a bizarre situation as the wedding of my younger sister took place while the dead body of my other sister was lying in another room," Saurabh said.
After the wedding, both families attended the "last rites" to begin the mourning process for Surbhi.
Those that attended the wedding said they had never witnessed such a mix of emotions during one ceremony. Most family members said grief over the death of Surbhi and the joy of the wedding had yet to sink in.
