An Ecuadorian woman has died only a few days after mourners at her burial were horrified to have discovered her still alive in her coffin.
A doctor at a hospital in the city of Babahoyo initially pronounced 76-year-old Bella Montoya dead last week.
However, she was quickly rushed back to the same hospital for treatment when mourners at her wake heard her knocking on her coffin.
The health ministry of Ecuador confirmed she passed away on Friday from an ischemic stroke after spending seven days in intensive care.
She had been under “permanent surveillance” while at the hospital, the ministry’s statement added.
Gilbert Barbera, her son, said in a statement to a local newspaper, “this time my mother really did die. My life will not be the same.”
Ms. Montoya was reportedly taken back to the same funeral home after passing away on June 16 before being buried in a public graveyard, according to local media.
According to local media, Ms. Montaya had catalepsy, a condition that causes seizures, loss of consciousness, and rigidity of the body.
The Ecuadorian health ministry has gathered a commission of specialists to examine her situation.
Ms. Montoya was placed in a coffin and transported to the funeral home in Babahoyo, southwest of the capital after being pronounced dead on 9 June.
But after nearly five hours inside, the woman gasped for air when her family opened the coffin so they could dress her for the funeral.
She was taken back to the same hospital on a stretcher a short while later by fire fighters.
There are other people who have “come alive” after being pronounced dead besides Bella Montoya.
An 82-year-old woman was discovered to be breathing in a funeral home in the state of New York in February. Three hours earlier, at a nursing home, she had been declared dead.
Source-BBC
