A 65-year-old woman in Thailand, identified as Chonthirot, was discovered alive inside her coffin just moments before her planned cremation at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi, near Bangkok. The incident occurred on Sunday (November 23) when temple staff opened the coffin for final preparations and noticed the woman moving her arms and head.

Chonthirot had been declared dead at her home in Phitsanulok in the early hours of the previous day. Her family, believing she had passed peacefully, transported her body in a white coffin to the temple, which provides free cremation services. The woman's younger brother, Mongkol, had signed paperwork confirming her death and handed it to the Buddhist monk responsible for the ceremony. However, upon arrival at the temple, Chonthirot shocked her family by knocking on the coffin lid, indicating she was still alive.

Temple worker Thammanoon, who was about to move the coffin for the ceremony, heard knocking and a faint cry for help. "I peeled back the cloth covering her and froze when I saw she was still moving," he said. The abbot of the temple immediately arranged for her to be taken to Bang Yai Hospital, where doctors found she was experiencing severe hypoglycemia, not cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, as initially believed. The temple assured the family that it would cover all medical expenses.

The incident has been described as miraculous by both the family and the temple staff. Chonthirot's brother expressed his shock and happiness, saying, "It's a miracle that she woke up." The temple abbot, Phra Kitti Wachirathada, noted that he had never witnessed such an incident in his years at the temple and was pleased for the family, who had been given a second chance with Chonthirot.

Enrique Santos