Woman found alive in coffin after staff hear 'knocking' hours before cremation
The brother told temple staff his sister had been bedridden for two years and had appeared to stop breathing
A woman believed to be dead and hours away from being cremated has been found alive after staff heard faint knocking coming from inside her coffin.
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Pairat Soodthoop, the general manager of the Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple, on the outskirts of Bangkok, said he was “startled” when he heard the sound.
He immediately asked staff to reopen the coffin, where he witnessed the 65-year-old woman moving.
Mr Soodthoop told the Associated Press he saw her "opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin".
"She must have been knocking for quite some time."
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The woman’s brother had earlier been informed by local officials that his sister had died, although, according to Mr Soodthoop, the family did not have an official death certificate.
He had been speaking to the brother about how to obtain one when the knocking was first heard.
Once temple staff realised she was alive, the abbot instructed that she be taken to hospital immediately.
A doctor later determined she had been suffering from severe hypoglycaemia – dangerously low blood sugar – and dismissed the possibility of respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.
The brother told temple staff his sister had been bedridden for two years and had appeared to stop breathing on Saturday.
The family had travelled nearly 500km from Phitsanulok province for the planned cremation.