During the drop there was an audible crack indicating that Saddam's neck was broken. After Saddam was suspended for a few minutes, the doctor present listened with a stethoscope for a heartbeat. After he detected nothing, the rope was cut, and the body was placed in a coffin.
Saddam began to recite the Shahada twice. As he neared the end of his second recitation when he was about to say "Muhammad", the trapdoor sprang. According to The New York Times, the executioners "cheer their Shi'ite heroes so persistently that one observer [in the execution chambers] makes a remark about how the effort to rein in militias does not seem to be going well."