The boy who glimpsed heaven

Three-year-old returns after being declared clinically dead

A three-year-old German boy, who claims to have seen his great grandmother in heaven when he was clinically dead after he fell into a pond, says "Heaven looked nice. But I am glad I am back with mummy and daddy now."

Paul Eicke was in the pond at his grandparents' house before his grandfather spotted him and pulled him out, Daily Telegraph reported.

The boy's father gave him heart massage and blew into his mouth during the few minutes it took for a helicopter to arrive. Doctors tried to resuscitate him and had just given up - when three hours and 18 minutes after he was brought in - Paul's heart started beating.

After gaining consciousness, the boy said that he saw his great grandmother Emmi.

"There was a lot of light and I was floating. I came to a gate and I saw Grandma Emmi on the other side. She said to me, 'What are you doing here Paul? You must go back to mummy and daddy. I will wait for you here.'

"I knew I was in heaven. But grandma said I had to come home. She said that I should go back very quickly. Heaven looked nice. But I am glad I am back with mummy and daddy now," Paul was quoted as saying.

Lothar Schweigerer, director of the clinic where Paul was taken, said: "I have never experienced anything like it. When children have been underwater for a few minutes they mostly don't make it. This is a most extraordinary case."

Paul is now back at home in Lychen, north of Berlin in Germany.