'Dead' woman found alive inside her coffin during funeral 

The relatives of a 76-year-old woman who had just passed away in Ecuador were left beyond words when she suddenly began knocking from inside her coffin during her wake. 

“It gave us all a fright,” the woman’s son Gilberto Barbera told the Associated Press. 

Bella Montoya was admitted to the Martin Icaza Hospital hospital in the city of Babahoyo on Friday, after suffering a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest. She was unconscious when she arrived at the hospital. 

Despite doctors’ attempts to bring her back to life, the woman did not respond, according to Ecuador’s Health Ministry. A few hours later, a doctor told Montoya’s family members that she was dead and handed over her death certificate. 

Her body was prepared for burial and was placed in a coffin, which was taken to a funeral home for her relatives to hold a vigil before her burial. However, about five hours later, they began to hear a strange sound. 

“There were about 20 of us there,” Barbera said. “After about five hours of the wake, the coffin started to make sounds. My mom was wrapped in sheets and hitting the coffin, and when we approached we could see that she was breathing heavily.”

A video filmed by one of her family members shows Montoya lying inside the coffin gasping for air. Minutes later, firefighters arrive and lift the woman onto a stretcher. Montoya was once again rushed back to the hospital where she was initially declared dead and placed under intensive care. 

🇪🇨 | LO ÚLTIMO: ¡Aunque usted no lo crea!

Una mujer que fue declarada muerta por un médico, revivió en pleno sepelio ante la mirada de sus familiares, inmediatamente fue trasladado al hospital Martin Icaza donde la volvieron a atender, ocurrió en Babahoyo, Ecuador. pic.twitter.com/nYn0o5jDab

— Alerta Mundial (@AlertaMundial2) June 10, 2023

"My mum is on oxygen, her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted, they tell me that's good because it means she is reacting little by little," her son told the local newspaper El Universo.

The country’s ministry said in a statement that it was investigating the hospital and the doctors involved in her case. A technical committee is also reviewing how the hospital issued death certificates. 

“I am slowly recovering from what happened,” Balberán added. “Now all I ask is that my mother’s health improves. I want her to be alive and by my side.”