A Thai woman who was presumed dead narrowly avoided being cremated alive after waking up inside her coffin.
The 65-year-old grandmother, who has been named only as Chonthirot, was found apparently lifeless at her home in Phitsanulok, northern Thailand, at 2am on Sunday morning.
Her family arranged a funeral service at a temple the next day and had her placed in a white coffin.
The coffin was then driven by truck for four hours to the temple, which provides free cremation and funeral services for people in financial difficulty.
A temple worker was about to remove the coffin from the truck ahead of the funeral when he heard knocking and a voice coming from inside it.
The worker, Thammanoon, told local media: ‘I peeled back the cloth covering her and froze when I saw she was still moving.
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‘She was conscious, breathing weakly, and nodding her head, but she was unable to speak.
‘I was stunned because I’d never experienced anything like this before.’
An ambulance was called immediately and Chonthirot was taken to hospital, with the temple agreeing to cover her medical expenses.
Her younger brother Mongkol, 57, said: ‘I was shocked, surprised, and happy that my sister was still alive. I nearly collapsed from surprise. It’s a miracle that she woke up.’
He said his sister had been bedridden with illness for two years before the incident.
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