Temple staff in Thailand were left in shock when a woman brought for cremation suddenly began moving inside her coffin.
According to The Associated Press, the incident occurred at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok, which shared a video of the moment on its Facebook page.
The footage shows a white coffin in the back of a pick-up truck, with the woman slightly moving her arms and head.
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press that the 65-year-old woman had been brought from Phitsanulok province by her brother.
“They heard a faint knock coming from the coffin,” Pairat said. “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.”
According to Pairat, the woman had been bedridden for about two years, and her health had recently deteriorated. She appeared to stop breathing two days before the incident.
Believing she had died, her brother placed her in a coffin and drove roughly 500 kilometers (300 miles) to a hospital in Bangkok, as she had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.
The hospital refused to accept her because her brother did not have an official death certificate. He then turned to Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, which offers free cremation services, but the temple also could not proceed without the document.
While explaining the steps needed to obtain a death certificate, temple staff heard the knocking and immediately assessed the woman. She was sent to a nearby hospital for further care.
Pairat said the temple abbot has pledged to cover her medical expenses. The woman’s miraculous survival has left both her family and temple staff astonished, turning what was meant to be a funeral into a story of hope and unexpected revival.
This incident highlights the importance of verifying medical death before burial or cremation and has drawn widespread attention on social media in Thailand.
