Ecuadorian Woman Found Alive in Coffin Dies Seven Days Later

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Elaine Mallon

An elderly Ecuador woman found alive, knocking on her coffin at her wake earlier this month, has died.

Bella Montoya, 76, spent a week in intensive care at the hospital in Babahoyo, which erroneously declared her dead on June 9, NBC News reported. She died on Friday, June 16. The Ecuadorian health ministry declared her cause of death a stroke. While hospitalized, Montoya remained under constant monitoring.

The retired nurse’s remains are now back at the same funeral home where she was discovered to still be alive seven days before her actual death, the Associated Press reported. Her son said she will be buried in a public cemetery.

Breitbart reported earlier this month that Montoya was found alive in her coffin five hours after being declared dead. Much to everyone’s astonishment, the woman gasped for air, sending shockwaves through the gathering. The scene was captured on video by one of the mourners, revealing Montoya lying in an open coffin, visibly struggling for breath. The mourners expressed frustration at the delayed arrival of an ambulance they then called for assistance.

“Extraordinary !!” the post accompanying the video reads [translated from Spanish]. “They were going to hold a wake for her but she was ALIVE[.] Bella Montoya, elderly woman, was thought dead in the Babahoyo hospital[.] They let her son take her at midday so they could have the viewing! But at 6;30 p.m. they realized she was still alive.”

Montoya’s sister has filed a formal complaint and is seeking the doctor responsible for declaring Montoya dead.

The health ministry has formed a committee to investigate how death certificates are issued by the hospital.

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