coffin.Photo:Getty
Getty
A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at an Ecuadorian hospital and laterfound alive in her coffinat her wake is now dead.
Bella Montoya, a retired nurse, died after spending a week in intensive care, according to her son, Gilbert Barberán, theAssociated Pressreports. She passed away Friday night from an ischemic stroke, Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health said in astatement.
Montoya was brought to the hospital June 9 after suffering cardiopulmonary arrest and a possible stroke, according to theAssociated Press. After not responding to the resuscitation efforts, she was declared dead.
Doctors informed Montoya’s family, including her son Gilberto Barbera, that she was dead and handed over a death certificate, according to the AP. The family took her to a funeral home and held a wake. Five hours in, the coffin started to rattle.
“It gave us all a fright,” Barbera told the AP.
“There were about 20 of us there,” he continued. “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.”
In a video taken as soon as she wasdiscovered breathing, the open coffin sat in a small light blue room with a crucifix and several lights. Montoya laid in the coffin wrapped in several different colorful blankets and breathed heavily, with her mouth opening and closing in quick succession.
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Relatives removed Montoya from the coffin and quickly took her back to the hospital where she was placed in intensive care. According to her son, she remained in serious condition with an uncertain prognosis until her death.
Montoya was in intensive care at the Martín Icaza Hospital in Babahoyo, according to Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health. The ministry is now opening an investigation to review how the hospital issues death certificates, the ministry said in astatement.
source: people.com
