A woman in Thailand has been taken to hospital after temple staff discovered she was still alive as they prepared to cremate her.
Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi, on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video to its Facebook page showing the 65-year-old lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck. In the footage, her arms and head appear to move, prompting shock among staff.
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the woman’s brother had driven her from Phitsanulok province, believing she had died.
He said staff heard a faint knock from inside the coffin.
“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said.
“I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”
According to Pairat, the woman had been bedridden for two years and recently became unresponsive, appearing to stop breathing two days earlier.
Her brother placed her in a coffin and travelled 500 kilometres to a Bangkok hospital, where she had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.
The hospital declined because he did not have an official death certificate, Pairat said.
The brother then approached the temple on Sunday, which offers free cremation services, but staff were also unable to proceed without documentation.
Pairat said he had been explaining how to obtain a death certificate when they heard the knocking. Staff checked her condition and arranged for her to be taken to a nearby hospital.
The temple’s abbot has agreed to cover her medical costs, according to Pairat.
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