A Chinese baby boy who was pronounced dead came back to life before he was to be cremated at a funeral parlor, according to reports from local media.

The child was reportedly critically ill when his parents decided to cease medical treatment at Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital in eastern China, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

The one-year-old was pronounced dead and a certificate noting the end of his life issued before he was transferred to an undertaker in the capital of Anhui Province, Hefei. But when he arrived there, staff reported they heard crying coming from the holding area. Officials were still unsure how long he'd been at the funeral parlor, or when his cremation was scheduled.

Staff at the facility immediately sent the one-year-old, who was born with a "congenital respiratory system malformation" back to the hospital on Wednesday, the Beijing News reported the next day.

"Because the baby still had life signs, we continued to give him transfusion to maintain his life for humanitarian reasons," a hospital worker told Xinhua.

Hospital administrators said that one doctor was put on suspension, a nurse was laid off, and an extensive investigation would follow the event.

The public responded to the shocking incident on China's Twitter-like microblog site, Weibo. Most blamed the child's parents and doctors alike.

"Please sentence the parents to five years in jail for abandonment," one user wrote on Thursday, according to AFP.

"Doctors with white coats are really irresponsible, simply treating patients' lives with utter disregard," another wrote.