Mourners who gathered over the weekend to bury Bella Montoya, 76, in Ecuador were stunned when they realized she was breathing as she rested in her casket.
“Little by little I am assimilating what has happened. Now I only ask that my mother's health improve. I want her alive and by my side,” said Gilbert Balberán, Montoya’s son. He went to visit her in Martín Icaza de Babahoyo hospital, according to a translated article from El Universo.
Doctors at the hospital gave Balberán and his family Montoya’s body, as well as a death certificate said the outlet. According to the BBC, it stated that she had died of cardiopulmonary arrest after suffering a stroke.
With the help of donations, the family was able to start arranging a funeral.
Montoya – identified by the Associated Press as a retired nurse from the Babahoyo area – was placed in a coffin and remained in it from around 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. At that time, her family opened it to prepare her for her wake and funeral.
That’s when they realized she was showing vital signs.
“Video taken by a mourner shows her lying in an open coffin struggling to breathe, while another complains that an ambulance they called has not yet arrived,” said the BBC. “Minutes later, firefighters arrive and lift Bella Montoya onto a stretcher and take her back to the hospital where she had been declared dead.”
Though cases of “resurrection” or people appearing dead while they are still alive are uncommon, they do occasionally occur. For example, the BBC has reported on other cases in South Africa, India and Poland, as well as a case from this February in New York. Audacy has also reported on a cat crawling out of the ground after being buried alive.
“Sometimes somebody may look like they’re dead but they’re not quite dead,” and some drugs can slow down body processes and make people appear dead, Dr. Stuart Hughes, a senior lecturer in medicine at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, told the outlet. “Careful examination is necessary to confirm death.”
It remains unclear exactly why Montoya was declared dead.
“There is still no official version of what happened from the doctors at the Martín Icaza de Babahoyo hospital or from the District Health Directorate,” said El Universo. “It was unofficially known that Bella would have had catalepsy, a medical condition that causes the person to remain without vital signs for up to three days.”
Many people in the community want the case to be investigated, as they want to prevent people from being buried alive, said El Universo.
Last year, Audacy reported on the opposite happening in Russia, were a company offered to bury people alive for a fee of $57,000.
“Regarding a legal process against the doctor who treated Bella or for the hospital, Gilbert indicated that this should be discussed with other of her relatives,” said the outlet.
According to the BBC, Ecuador’s health ministry has set up a committee to investigate the incident.
As officials investigate the incident, Montoya’s family is focused on her health. She has been hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit since the shocking discovery at her wake.
“My mommy is on oxygen. Her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted. They tell me that this is good, because it means that she is reacting little by little,” her son said, per El Universo.
Related
Related
