Woman Who Knocked on Coffin at Her Funeral Dies a Week Later

A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador only to shock mourners when she knocked on her coffin during her own wake has died after a week in intensive care, according to her family. Gilbert Barbera Montoya, Bella Montoya’s son, told the Associated Press that she had died in a state hospital on Friday evening. Ecuadorian officials confirmed in a statement that Montoya had died from an ischemic stroke. The authorities added that she had been under “permanent surveillance” since being rushed to the hospital after her wake on Monday. Montoya, a retired nurse who was declared dead for the first time on June 9, was taken back to the same funeral home ahead of her burial at a public cemetery, according to the BBC. Speaking to a local newspaper, Barbera Montoya said, “This time my mother really did die. My life will not be the same.”