A woman from Ecuador passed away a few days after attendees at her burial were horrified to see her still alive in her coffin.
A doctor at a hospital in the city of Babahoyo initially pronounced Bella Montoya, 76, dead last week. However, she was brought back to the same hospital for treatment when mourners at her wake heard her knocking on her coffin.
She spent seven days in intensive care until her death on Friday from an ischemic stroke, according to Ecuador’s health ministry.
She had been under “permanent surveillance” while at the hospital, the ministry’s statement claimed.
Gilbert Barbera, her son, claimed in a statement to a nearby newspaper, “This time my mother actually did pass away. My life will not be the same.”
After being pronounced dead on June 9th, Ms. Montoya was given a coffin and driven to the funeral home in Babahoyo, southwest of the capital Quito.
But when her relatives opened the coffin to change the woman’s clothes for the funeral, nearly five hours had passed and she was gasping for air.
Minutes later, she was stretchered out by firefighters and transferred back to the same hospital.
She later passed away again on June 16th. Ms. Montoya was returned to the same funeral home before her burial at a public cemetery, according to local media.
According to the local media, Ms. Montaya suffered from a disorder known as catalepsy, which causes seizures, loss of consciousness, and rigidity of the body. The Ecuadorian health ministry has created an expert group to examine her situation.
