Bella Montoya, a 76-year-old Ecuadorian woman who had been declared dead, gave her relatives a shock after knocking on the inside of her coffin during her wake. 

Montoya was admitted to the hospital after suffering a stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest. The Ecuadorian health ministry reported that she was declared dead after not responding to resuscitation attempts. 

She was then taken to a funeral home for her family to proceed with the ceremonial proceedings, when her family started hearing banging noises coming from the coffin; only for them to find out that their mom was the one banging from inside and breathing heavily. 

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

Read more: Medical negligence in UK may be linked to 40 deaths

Montoya was rushed back to the hospital where doctors are now assessing her situation, as she was placed in intensive care and intubated.

The incident prompted a governmental investigation into the hospital, and the Ecuadorian Health Ministry announced that it was investigating the unnamed doctor involved in her case, as a technical committee was also formed to investigate how the hospital in question issues death certificates.