American man pronounced dead 'starts moving on the way to the morgue'

Milwaukee man incorrectly pronounced dead by first responders after slipping into a coma

Thomas Sancomb was found unresponsive in his Wisconsin apartment (Facebook)

An American man appeared to return from the grave this week after he reportedly began to move an hour after he was declared “dead”.

Police were called to an 11th story flat at an apartment block in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday after the 46-year-old’s girlfriend was worried she could not get in touch with him and he had a serious medical condition.

Arriving at the scene they found the man, Thomas Sancomb slumped at the foot of the bed and called for paramedics.

According to a medical examiner’s report, obtained by local news channel 12 News , firefighters arrived on the scene and “found him cold to the touch and in rigor” so they did not attempt to revive him.

He was pronounced dead at 2:10pm in the apartment but as the medical examiner was transferring him to the morgue the man began to breathe and twitch his right arm and leg.

The fire crew were called back to the scene and found he still had a faint heartbeat.

He was quickly taken to Columbia-St Mary’s Hospital in the city and remains in intensive care.

According to Sancomb’s brother, he has a serious thyroid problem which put him in a coma and dropped his body temperature to 84 degrees. The man’s neck and jaw went stiff, leading first responders to think rigor was setting in.

Speaking to the Associated Press, he said his brother was "not out of the woods yet" and "'Thomas' health is the most important thing we're focusing on right now."

The report said there were no signs of drug or alcohol abuse and the Milwaukee Fire Department said it is investigating the incident.

Assistant Chief Gerald Washington said: “We're doing an internal investigation to make sure that everything we did followed protocol. It's an active investigation, so I can't comment in detail.”