A son has spoken of his shock after his “dead” mother was found gasping for air and banging the inside of her coffin at her own funeral.
Bella Montoya, 76, was rushed back to hospital in Ecuador by stunned relatives in the central city of Babahoyo on Friday.
The retired nurse had been was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador and the bizarre incident has prompted a government investigation into the hospital.
Her son Gilberto Barbera said: “It gave us all a fright.”
“There were about 20 of us there. 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 had been admitted Friday at the hospital with a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, and when she did not respond to resuscitation a doctor on duty declared her dead, the ministry said.
Barbera said his mother was unconscious when she was brought to the emergency room and that a few hours later a doctor informed him she was dead and handed over identity documents and a death certificate.
Though he and relatives rushed her back to the hospital Friday, she was still in serious condition Monday. She was under intubation, and doctors weren’t giving relatives much hope about her prognosis, Barbera said.
Ecuador’s Health Ministry said that Montoya was still in intensive care Monday at the Martín Icaza Hospital in Babahoyo while the ministry investigates doctors involved in her case.
