A 76-year-old woman who had been declared dead and surprised her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake earlier this month has died after seven days in intensive care, The Guardian has reported.
Ecuador’s health ministry confirmed in a statement that Bella Montoya died from an ischemic stroke after spending a week in intensive care. It added that Montoya had remained under “permanent surveillance” but didn’t provide further information on the medical investigation surrounding the case, the report said.
According to The Guardian, Bella Montoya reportedly woke up and started knocking on 9 June after spending five hours inside her coffin at a funeral home in Babahoyo, about 208km (129 miles) south-west of Quito.
The remains of Montoya, who was a retired nurse, are back at the same funeral home where she woke up. Her son told the AP that she will be buried at a public cemetery.
A technical committee has been formed to review how the hospital issues death certificates, the country’s ministry of health said last week, the report added.
