ALMATY - Burglars in Kazakhstan locked a funeral parlor employee in a coffin and kept him there unconscious while rummaging for cash in the shop.

Serik Sarsenbayev said he was on his own late at night when two masked burglars burst into the parlor and beat him until he fainted.

The thieves then nailed him into a wooden coffin and carried on their search for a money safe, he told Reuters by telephone from the steppe town of Temirtau.

He was later freed by the driver of the parlor's hearse.

The thieves made away with the equivalent of $23,000 and remain at large, the daily Express K reported.