Mourners in Ecuador had gathered at the funeral of retired nurse Bella Montoya when they heard strange noises coming from inside the coffin.
This may sound like a horror movie trope, but relatives were shocked to see that Montoya, who had been pronounced dead after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, was actually still alive and breathing, her family and officials said. officials on Monday.
“He gave us all a scare,” his son, Gilberto Barbera, told the Associated Press.
The 76-year-old woman was unconscious when her family took her to the hospital in the central city of Babahoyo on Friday, her son told the AP.
He did not respond to resuscitation and the doctor on duty at the Marlin Icaza de Babahoyo Hospital declared that he had died, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health reported in a statement.
Her family took her to the funeral home the same day, only to hear sounds inside her coffin during the wake, her son said.
“There were about 20 of us there,” he said. “After about five hours of the wake, the coffin began to make noises. My mom was wrapped in sheets and pounding on the coffin, and when we got closer we could see that she was breathing heavily.»
Video taken immediately after showed a coffin resting on the floor of a small, bare, light blue room furnished with a silver crucifix and a standing fan. Inside the open coffin was a gaunt-faced, gray-haired woman who moved her mouth up and down as two men supported her head.
She was taken back to hospital, where she remained intubated in intensive care, the Health Ministry said, describing her condition as «unstable.» Her son said the doctors hadn’t given them much hope about her prognosis.
The Health Ministry said it formed a committee with other government agencies to conduct an audit of how the premature death declaration occurred.
The country has a public health system that provides universal coverage.
Even though Ecuador is a middle-income nation, its health system is ranked in the top 50 in the world for efficiency, based on public spending, and life expectancy, according to Bloomberg Health Efficiency Index.
After the incident on Friday, the Ministry of Health tried to reassure Ecuadorians that «it maintains the offer of health services to the population at all levels of care.»
Caroline Radnofsky and The Associated Press contributed.