Ecuadorian woman Bella Montoya was declared dead a few days after she allegedly knocked on her coffin during her own wake at a funeral home.
The 76-year-old was initially declared dead by a doctor at a hospital in the city of Babahoyo on June 9 and was rushed back to the same hospital that had earlier declared her dead for intensive care.
At that time, the Ecuadorian health ministry said she remained under "permanent surveillance" at the hospital. But after seven days in intensive care, Montoya was declared dead a second time from an ischemic stroke.
Local media reported she was taken back to the same funeral home where the resuscitation incident happened and would be buried at a public graveyard. The Ecuadorian health ministry has also tasked a commission of experts to review her case post-mortem.
Back from the Dead
Doctors stated Montoya, a retired nurse, supposedly died following a suspected stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest last week.
Her son Gilberto Balberán said his mother was brought to a funeral home for a wake. But five hours later, about 20 of Montoya's family and friends were shocked to hear knocking sounds from the coffin. When the casket was opened, Montoya was found heavily gasping for air.
"It gave us all a fright," he said then.
Balberán added doctors were considering the possibility that the cardiorespiratory arrest resulted in Montoya suffering catalepsy, which makes a person's body rigid and less pain-sensitive.
A similar incident also happened in New York state in February, when an 82-year-old woman was found to be breathing while lying in a funeral home three hours after she was pronounced dead.
In 2021, an elderly Indian woman named Shakuntala Gaikwad woke up just moments before being cremated after her family thought she had died due to COVID-19. Her current condition remains unknown.
Related Article: Ecuadorian Woman Knocks From Inside Coffin During Her Wake
