A man lying amongst corpses in a morgue startled medical examiners when he sat up and asked for a drink of water.

Mange Ram, 19, was picked up along with the dead after a stampede at a religious pilgrimage claimed over 100 lives. He told reporters that he awoke surrounded by "a row of bodies," after being crushed under the weight of those involved in the stampede and losing consciousness.

The instance of the live man being found among the dead has caused some to question how many others may have been alive, but were carted off in piles of bodies, perhaps dying unnecessarily.

Criticism is surrounding how the Himachal Pradesh government handled the Naina Devi stampede and its 146 victims, as the Times of India reported that commoners who were working the religious event were asked to identify the dead, and in general, authorities hastily gathered up bodies, not checking whether they were dead or just unconsious, and took them to the morgue.

According to the paper, Additional district magistrate CP Verma, said because of the amount of bodies and chaos at the site of the stampede, it was "not possible" to conduct medical examinations.

It is reported that hours after the stampede, the religious pilgrimage resumed.