Russian Man fakes death in marriage proposal

A Russian man has faked his own death as part of a marriage proposal to his girlfriend.

Alexey Bykov, 30, decided to see if his girlfriend really loved him by staging a fatal car crash, Orange News reports.

Bykov, from Omsk, hired a director, scriptwriter, stuntmen and make-up artists to make the crash look as realistic as possible.

He lay in the road and arranged for his girlfriend Irena Kolokov to meet him at the crash site. She was then told he was dead.

Kolokov said: "We'd arranged to meet at a certain place but when I arrived there were mangled cars everywhere, ambulances, smoke, and carnage."

She described how she "broke down in tears" when told that Bykov had been killed.

However, it was then that the 'dead' Bykov jumped up and surprised Kolokov, proposing marriage.

"I was so cross I almost killed him again, but for real this time," she said.

Bykov explained: "I wanted her to realize how empty her life would be without me and how life would have no meaning without me."

Kolokov saw the funny side of the stunt and accepted Bykov's proposal.