A 65-year-old woman in Thailand was discovered alive inside her coffin at a Buddhist temple, moments before her scheduled cremation. The incident occurred at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham in Nonthaburi province, on the outskirts of Bangkok.
Temple staff were startled when they heard faint knocking and saw the woman moving her arms and head inside the coffin, which was placed in the back of a pick-up truck. The temple's general manager, Pairat Soodthoop, told the Associated Press that the woman's brother had driven her from Phitsanulok province for cremation.
Pairat recounted: 'I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled. I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.' The brother explained that his sister had been bedridden for two years, and her health had deteriorated, leading him to believe she had stopped breathing two days earlier.
The brother had placed her in a coffin and travelled 500 kilometres to a Bangkok hospital, where she had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs. However, the hospital refused the donation as he lacked an official death certificate. The temple offers free cremation services, but also refused due to the missing document.
While Pairat was explaining the procedure for obtaining a death certificate, they heard the knocking. The woman was assessed and sent to a nearby hospital. The temple's abbot has offered to cover her medical expenses.
