Philadelphia funeral turns chaotic after pallbearers fall into grave with casket

12News Arizona ^ | April 9, 2025 | Melissa Hernandez De La Cruz

[fidelis]

WASHINGTON — A group of pallbearers carrying a loved one's casket fell into a grave after a platform collapsed at a Philadelphia cemetery.

Video from the funeral shows the group of men carry the casket from an SUV to the grave. As the pallbearers begin to lower the casket, the platform above the burial plot gives out and plunges them into the grave.

The scene unfolded on Friday at the Greenmount Cemetery in Philadelphia as family and friends mourned the loss of Benjamin Aviles, WPVI reported.

"It was just a horrible incident that happened at a bad moment," Aviles' stepdaughter Maribelle Rodriguez told WPVI.

The pallbearers suffered injuries on their legs, hands and back, Rodriguez said to the local outlet.

Aviles' son was among the pallbearers and was knocked out following the incident.

"The casket lay on top of him, and he was out like a light with his face in the mud," Rodriguez described to WPVI.

Aviles' stepdaughter said she blames the cemetery, and the funeral home involved in the incident, citing that the platform was "wobbly" and the wood was "all wet and soaked."

An obituary posted by the funeral home shows Aviles died on March 21 at age 61 due to complications related to heart issues.

"I think they should apologize," Rodriguez said to the Philadelphia outlet. "There should be some reimbursement, being that the ceremony was interrupted; nothing was done properly."

WPVI reported that on Monday some of the boards and broken wood could still be seen at the burial site.

[fidelis]

"Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man."
~ Mercurtio

[catbertz]

ouch. I’ve had a slight fear of that during several funerals.

[Fido969]

[Jamestown1630]

What a disaster. The one who wound up underneath the casket must have been hurt badly.

[Seruzawa]

Sounds like a typical Irish wake to me. Though the participants usually manage to fall into the grave on their own.

[chajin]

Ancient Japanese poem, and by ancient I mean about 1000 years old.

“I may live on until
I long for this time
In which I am so unhappy,
And remember it fondly.”

Today, it seems like a horrible tragedy. Ten years from now, the participants might be able to laugh about it.

[Qwapisking]

betting there’s alcohol involved.

[stylecouncilor]

Ping

[Magnum44]

Anything can happen at a funeral...

[Dr. Franklin]

The pallbearers didn’t know they were in grave danger.

[vetvetdoug]

I was on a detachment for the USAF Honor Guard at a funeral in New Orleans. I was at the head of the casket and as we began to lower the casket onto the carriage the ground beneath me gave way..Luckily I was the only one that went into the hole. The OIC came over and gave me a hand to get out, I retook my position with better ground and we finished the honors and funeral. My uniform was trashed though. I thought we handled the situation well..no one cussed, no one showed surprise, and no damage except the jokes that were given to me on the bus on the way back to Keesler. The crowd was at first aghast but when they saw how we handled the situation everyone went on with the respect and honor for the deceased.

[Jamestown1630]

It looks like a failure of the casket lowering device.

[frank ballenger]

In India the role in society of women of lost their husbands was so bleak and hopeless that many threw themselves onto their dead husbands’ funeral pyres.

“Sati or suttee is a practice, a chiefly historical one, in which a Hindu widow burns alive on her deceased husband’s funeral pyre, the death by burning entered into voluntarily, by coercion, or by a perception of the lack of satisfactory options for continuing to live.”

I doubt the Philadelphia mourners felt like that.

[bankwalker]

[OldHarbor]

Aviles' son was among the pallbearers and was knocked out following the incident.

"The casket lay on top of him, and he was out like a light with his face in the mud,"

Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave

[frank ballenger]

Good gif.

I also liked the Diamonds Are Forever scene where Bond is rolled into a cremation fire in a casket. Only saved because the bad guys didn’t want to lose the fortune in diamonds.

[Lurker]

This is why I insist on a Viking funeral.

L

[frank ballenger]

Frank Sinatra’s toast to long time friends.
“May you live to be 100 and the last words you hear will be mine.”

[Rennes Templar]

With all the dust and dirt, when they climbed out they were probably all coffin.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

betting there’s alcohol involved.

The platform collapsed under them.