(NBC News)- Mourners in Ecuador had gathered at the funeral of retired nurse Bella Montoya when they heard strange noises coming from inside the coffin.
That might sound like a trope from a horror movie, but relatives were startled to see that Montoya — who had been declared dead after she was believed to have suffered a stroke and cardiac arrest — was still alive and breathing, her family and officials said Monday.
“It gave us all a fright,” her son, Gilberto Barbera, told The Associated Press. The woman, 76, was unconscious when her family took her to the hospital in the central city of Babahoyo on Friday, her son told the AP.
She did not respond to resuscitation, and the doctor on duty at Hospital Martín Icaza de Babahoyo declared that she had died, the Ecuadorian health ministry said in a statement. CONTINUE