Woman thought dead found breathing in coffin

Despite having been declared dead, 76-year-old Bella Montoya startled mourners at her wake after she was found to be still breathing in her coffin.

A hospital doctor in the city of Babahoyo declared the Ecuadorean woman deceased after a suspected stroke.

Placed in a coffin and taken to a funeral parlour, relatives met in a vigil before her planned burial. To everyone’s shock, Montoya gasped for air when the coffin was opened after almost five hours to change her clothes.

Her son Gilbert Balberan described the moment, saying that his mother ‘started to move her left hand, to open her yes, her mouth; she struggled to breathe.’

Firefighters arrived on site to lift her out of the coffin onto a stretcher and take her back to the same hospital which saw her declared dead. Ecuadorean media was told that she was in intensive care but was responsive.

“My mum is on oxygen, her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted, they tell me that’s good because it means she is reacting little by little,” newspaper El Universo quoted him as saying.

#MaltaDaily