Mourners in Ecuador had gathered at the funeral of retired nurse Bella Montoya when they heard strange noises coming from inside the coffin.
This might sound like a trope from a horror movie, but relatives were startled to see that Montoya — who had been declared dead after suffering a suspected stroke and cardiac arrest — was actually still alive and breathing, her family and officials said Monday.
“It gave us all a fright,” her son, Gilberto Barbera, told the Associated Press.
The woman, 76, was unconscious when her family took her to the hospital in the central city of Babahoyo on Friday, her son told the AP.
She did not respond to resuscitation and the doctor on duty at the Hospital Marlin Icaza de Babahoyo declared that she had died, the Ecuadorian health ministry said in a statement.
Her family took her to the funeral home the same day, only to hear sounds from 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 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.”
Video taken immediately afterward showed a coffin resting on the floor of a small, bare, light-blue room furnished with a silver crucifix and a pedestal fan. Inside the open casket was a woman with a gaunt face and gray hair moving her mouth up and down as two men supported her head.
She was rushed back to the hospital, where she remained intubated in intensive care, the health ministry said, describing her condition as “unstable.” Her son said that doctors hadn’t given them much hope about her prognosis.
The ministry of health said it has formed a committee with other government agencies to carry out an audit of how the premature declaration of death came about.
The country has a public healthcare system that provides universal coverage.
Despite Ecuador being a middle-income nation, its healthcare system is ranked in the global top 50 for efficiency, based on government spending and life expectancy, according to the Bloomberg Health-Efficiency Index.
Following the incident Friday, the health ministry 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.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
