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A 76-year-old woman from Ecuador gave her family quite the fright after they thought she had died. Bella Montoya was admitted to the hospital on Friday (June 9) after suffering from a possible stroke or heart attack.
The doctors attempted to resuscitate her but could not and declared her dead.
Her family took possession of her body and brought her to a funeral home for a wake later that day.
However, while family members were paying their respects, they heard a knock inside the coffin. When they opened the lid, they were shocked to find that Montoya was still alive.
"There were about 20 of us there," her son Gilberto Barbera told the Associated Press. "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."
They called emergency services, and Montoya was rushed back to the same hospital that initially declared her dead. She remains hospitalized in intensive care.
Local officials said they have launched an investigation to determine why Montoya was pronounced dead by doctors at the hospital.