Belgrade - A Serbian policeman taking photos of what he thought was an emaciated corpse nearly fainted when the body raised its head and complained about flashes of light, the Belgrade daily Blic reported Friday.

The incident occurred after police in Kragujevac, an industrial town 120 kilometres south of Belgrade, were called to check up a single- room home owned by a man nobody has seen in two weeks.

The man's neighbours thought the worst when a horrible stench emanated from behind his locked doors.

"We broke in and the man was as dead," said one policeman. "When he spoke we panicked, but the colleague with the camera fell into real shock."

The photographer swooned and had to be helped to remain on his feet, the report said.

As it turned out, the man - a loner with no family and a disconnected phone - passed out about two weeks beforehand after days of hunger and dehydration.

He was rushed to a hospital, weighing only 30 kilos, with bedsores and a respiratory infection, but communicative. (dpa)