Former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in air strikes in Tehran on 28 February.
The state funeral of Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will run from July 4 to 9. His mortal remains have been kept for last darshan in the Grand Mosallah of Tehran. After this, he will be buried near the mausoleum of Imam Reza in Mashhad. It was claimed that he died in the air strikes in Tehran on 28 February. Now preparations are underway to bury him after 4 months. Now the question arises that for how many days can a human body be saved from decomposition?
Different methods are used to protect human dead bodies from rotting or decaying. The method depends on how many days the dead body has to be preserved. The method is adopted accordingly. The process of deterioration of the human body begins within a few hours of death. The body starts becoming stiff after 2 hours of death. Within 24 hours the bacteria start damaging the body from inside. This is considered to be the beginning of the real problem. Therefore, the process of preserving the dead body is started immediately.
The report of the World Journal of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Research says that in the process of preserving the dead body, the process of deterioration of the body is slowed down to a great extent. Let us understand how many methods are adopted for this.
Most common methods
Let us first understand what method is adopted in India. Generally, a dead body can be preserved at home for 6 to 10 hours without any major preparation. If the heat is high then this period becomes 4 to 6 hours. Whereas in winter, under normal conditions, the dead body can be prevented from rotting for 12 to 15 hours.
If it remains in a glacier or snowy mountains, it can remain safe for hundreds of years, if not decades.
to preserve the dead bodyIf ice is used, the dead body can be preserved for up to 2 days. This method is not considered very effective because gradually the risk of bacteria growth increases. On the contrary, if the body remains in a naturally cold area like a glacier or snowy mountains, it can remain safe for hundreds of years, if not decades.
This is an example of this. An Indian Air Force soldier, who went missing in 1968 in Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, was found in the snow after 56 years. This example shows how the body’s tissues remain tightly protected for long periods of time in ice.
#WATCH | Tehran, Iran: Visuals from the funeral ceremony of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 during Israeli and US airstrikes on Iran
(Source: IRIB Pool via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/QWmZtyRAUB
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2026
How to preserve dead bodies for a long time?
Three methods are generally adopted to preserve dead bodies for a long time. The first is to keep it in cold storage. The second is embalming and the third is cryopreservation.
1- Cold storage: safe for short periods of time
If the dead body has to be preserved for a short period of time, then cold storage is used so that it can be protected from rotting till the last rites. Usually dead bodies are kept in mortuary at a temperature of 2°C to 4°C. For a home funeral or for transportation of a body, an ice pack or a special polymer sheet (such as Techni Ice) can be used to keep the body at the correct temperature for up to 4 days.
2- Embalming: Can be preserved for several months
In this process, blood is removed from the body through surgery and a chemical solution is filled in its place. In most cases, formaldehyde-based liquids are filled. This is done to disinfect the tissues and to preserve the body for some time before the last rites or last viewing of the body.
It breaks down the proteins present in the skin, due to which bacteria do not get the necessary nutrition to grow in the body. Also, the disinfectants present destroy the bacteria. Properly embalming can preserve a body without decomposition for weeks, and cadavers donated for study in medical colleges are kept usable for months by this technique. The embalming process takes 2 to 4 hours.
Through normal embalming the body can remain in good condition for up to 26 weeks. Dead bodies can be preserved for 2 to 6 months in cool and dry environment. If the body is kept in cold storage (24°C) after embalming, the period of preservation can be further increased.
3- Cryopreservation: Remains safe for decades
In this process the entire body or organs are kept at very low temperatures below -130°C. To keep it safe, liquid nitrogen is used so that the possibility of growth of bacteria is completely eliminated. It is claimed that through this the dead body is kept safe for decades. If temperature and maintenance are strictly followed, the dead body can be preserved indefinitely.
Also read: 40°C crossed in Europe, fear of drought in India! Is there any connection between the two?
