Corpse falls into traffic from coroner’s van

A macabre photograph showing a corpse on a stretcher lying in the middle of a busy US street has gone viral.

The corpse fell out of the back of a coroner's van and landed in the middle of traffic near a shopping centre in the town of Feasterville, Pennsylvania around noon last Friday, reports LevittownNow.com.

"At first I thought someone was pulling a prank, but traffic was just driving around," said witness Jerry Bradley, who took of a photo of the body, which was in a bag, wrapped in a white sheet and strapped to a gurney.

The local coroner's office said the driver realised immediately that the door had opened and retrieved the body within minutes.

It added that it "deeply regrets" the incident.