BANGKOK, Nov 26: People in a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi province on the outskirts of Bangkok were startled when they heard knocking sounds from inside a coffin about to be cremated.
According to Associated Press, a woman inside had shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin.
Wat Rat Prakhong Tham had posted a video on its Facebook page, showing the woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, said on Monday that the 65-year-old woman’s brother had driven her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.
He said they then heard a faint knock coming from 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 brother said his sister had been bedridden for about two years, when her health deteriorated, and she became unresponsive, appearing to stop breathing two days ago.
The brother then placed her in a coffin and made the 500km journey to a hospital in Bangkok, to which the woman had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.
The hospital refused to accept the brother’s offer as he did not have an official death certificate, said Pairat, whose temple offers a free cremation service, which was why the brother approached them on Sunday.
But the cremation was delayed as the brother did not have the death certificate.
Pairat said while he was explaining how to get a death certificate, they heard the knocking and found that the woman was still alive!
Once it became clear the woman was alive, the temple’s abbot (head of a Buddhist monastery) said the woman should be taken to the hospital immediately.
They then sent her to a nearby hospital, where her expenses would be covered by the temple.
A doctor later confirmed that the woman had been experiencing severe hypoglycaemia – a condition where blood sugar levels get critically low. It was also ruled out that she had possibly suffered respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.