Ecuadorean Woman Who Knocked On Coffin At Her Funeral Dies Week Later

A 76-year-old Ecuadorean woman died just days after she knocked on the coffin at her own funeral.

It was earlier this month that Bella Montoya was first declared dead by a doctor at a hospital in Babahoyo, reported BBC.

But then mourners who were at her funeral, heard her knocking on her coffin. Then was immediately rushed back to the same hospital to get treatment.

In a statement, Ecuador's health ministry said that Montoya died from an ischemic stroke on Friday after she spent a week in intensive care. It also said that she had remained under "permanent surveillance," but they didn't give further information on the medical probe surrounding the case, as per The Guardian.

She was kept in a coffin and taken to the funeral parlor in Babahoyo after she was declared dead on June 9.

After almost five hours inside the coffin, she gasped for air. At the time, her relatives had opened the coffin to change her clothes for the funeral.

Then she was stretchered out by firefighters and taken back to the same hospital.

Her son Gilberto Barbera had said that it gave them "all a fright," as per Sky News.

He recalled that there were about 20 people in attendance, and after about five hours of the funeral, the "coffin started to make sounds."

He said that his mother was "wrapped in sheets and hitting the coffin, and when we approached we could see that she was breathing heavily."

Gilberto said that he had not yet got any report from the authorities on the medical explanation of what had happened.

He shared that a sister of the deceased woman had also complained about the incident. The family is seeking to identify the doctor who had initially declared her dead.

The country's Ministry of Health said last week that to review how the hospital issues death certificates, a technical committee has been formed.

Gilberto's mom is not the only one to "come alive" after being officially pronounced dead.

In February, a woman, 82, was found to be breathing while she was lying in a funeral place in New York State. At a nursing home, the elderly woman had been declared dead three hours before the funeral.