‘Dead’ woman found alive and breathing inside her coffin at her own funeral
A woman has been found alive and breathing shortly before she was due to be buried in the ground forever.
According to the BBC, Bella Montoya died last week from a stroke at the age of 76.
Her death certificate reportedly declared she suffered 'cardiorespiratory arrest due to suffering from an unspecified cerebrovascular disease'.
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Her loved ones quickly organised a funeral for the elderly Ecuadorian woman.
She spent several hours inside her own casket during the wake.
However, when relatives started the process of changing her clothes to prepare her for burial, they couldn't believe that she was showing signs of life.
Bella's son, Gilbert Balberán, told local news outlet El Universo: "My mother started to move the left hand, open her eyes, the mouth. She was making an effort to breathe."
Footage posted on social media shows Ms Montoya gasping for air as people gathered around her.
People were told to call emergency services so that they could get Bella to a hospital.
Paramedics were seen observing her vital signs before transferring her to the nearest medical facility.
The BBC says she is now in the same hospital and intensive care unit that declared her death.
Gilbert says it was incredible what happened over the course of a few hours.
"The doctor at noon told me that my mother was dead was not at at the facility," he explained to El Universo.
"Another one saw me and he gave her oxygen, they intubated her and took her to an (ICU) room where she is under observation."
He added to AFP: "Little by little I am grasping what has happened.
"Now I only pray for my mother's health to improve. I want her alive and by my side."
Ecuador's health ministry will be investigating the incident and will try to work out how a woman was declared dead and yet was still alive.
The ministry said in a statement that she did not respond to resuscitation attempts after going into cardiorespiratory arrest and a doctor on duty confirmed she had died.
The Daily Mail reports Gilbert will be filing an incident report with the local prosecutor's office and accuse the hospital of negligence.
Stewart Perrie