A 76-year-old woman mysteriously woke up in her coffin just hours after being declared dead.
Bella Montoya started breathing during her own wake.
She also started whacking the side of the casket with her hand as shocked mourners looked on.
It was just hours after the family was handed her death certificate.
Bella’s loved ones had been told the pensioner had died after suffering cardiorespiratory arrest.
But it caused her to suffer catalepsy, a trance-like condition marked by the rigidity of the body, decreased sensitivity to pain, and slower bodily functions such as breathing.
As a result, hospital staff allegedly mistook her condition as death.
Bella’s shocked son Gilbert Balberán said his mother spent around five hours in the coffin before he noticed she was breathing.
He said: “They even gave us a death certificate.
“Her left hand was hitting the side of the coffin and her hand was shaking.
Gilbert said she was removed from the coffin and is currently being observed at the same hospital that declared her dead in Babahoyo, Los Ríos Province, Ecuador.
The clip shows Gilbert attending to the elderly woman as she apparently breathes in her coffin.
Paramedics then transfer Bella onto a stretcher and place her into the back of a waiting ambulance in front of stunned loved ones.
Gilbert told local media: “My mother is on oxygen. Her heart is stable.
“The doctor squeezed her hand and she reacted, they tell me this is a good sign because it means she is reacting little by little.
“I’m just coming to grips with what has happened.
“Now, I only ask that my mother’s health improves.
“I want her alive and by my side.”
He added: “It’s a miracle from God!”
The Ministry of Health said they have assigned a technical team to look into the case and establish why a death certificate was erroneously rubber-stamped.
The ministry will release a statement concerning the incident in the coming hours.
