Woman declared dead by doctors starts breathing and ‘hitting the coffin’ during own funeral

She was taken to the Martin Icaza Hospital in the central city of Babahoyo where she is currently on life support

An elderly woman woke up during her funeral in Ecuador. Screengrab (Associated Press / YouTube)

A 76-year-old woman from Ecuador who was pronounced dead last week started gasping for air and hitting on the insides of the coffin at her funeral, according to reports.

Bella Montoya, who was admitted to a hospital on Friday after she suffered “a cardiac and respiratory arrest” and was later pronounced dead by local doctors, startled mourners when she started banging on the inside walls of the coffin as her relatives were preparing to change her clothes ahead of the burial.

According to the country’s Ministry of Health, Ms Montoya “suffered from cardiac and respiratory arrest without responding to resuscitation attempts, after which the duty doctor confirmed her death”. The family was reportedly also given a death certificate.

Now the authorities have launched an investigation to “determine responsibility” for the false death certificate that was issued to Ms Montoya.

She was taken to the Martin Icaza Hospital in the central city of Babahoyo in Ecuador where she is currently on life support.

A video posted on social media showed the woman lying in the open casket, opening her mouth and gasping for breath. She is seen surrounded by a few people whose identities couldn’t be verified.

Local media quoted Ms Montoya’s son Gilberto Barbera as saying that his mother had been “admitted around 9am [on Friday], and at noon a doctor told me [she] died”.

He later said that she was “on artificial respiration and her heart is stable”.

“I am slowly recovering from what happened,” Mr Barbera told Associated Press.

“There were about 20 of us there [at the funeral,” Mr Barbera 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.”

He added that “now all I ask is that my mother’s health improves. I want her to be alive and by my side”.

Ms Montoya’s condition remains serious at the moment.

“It gave us all a fright,” Mr Balberan said.

Additional reporting with agencies.