‘Deceased’ woman who suddenly showed signs of life in coffin hospitalized, later declared dead again

An Ecuadorian woman who was declared dead until she began moving around in her coffin at her funeral earlier this month died in the hospital Friday.

Bella Montoya, 76, died from an ischemic stroke following a week in a state hospital’s intensive care unit, Ecuador’s health ministry told The Associated Press. 

Family members said she was rushed to a medical center near the city of Babahoyo on June 9 after she woke up and started knocking on her coffin.

“There were about 20 of us there,” her son Gilberto Barbera Montoya 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.”

Montoya arrived at the hospital earlier on June 9 after suffering from a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest. Doctors couldn’t resuscitate the woman and she was declared dead.

Montoya’s remains were taken to the same funeral home where she woke up.

Ecuador’s health ministry said a committee is being formed to look into how the hospital that cared for Montoya goes about issuing its death certificates.

— Based in part on wire service reports.