Thinking his sister had died due to respiratory arrest, his brother took her to the temple for cremation when suddenly he heard a knock from inside the coffin, signaling that the victim was still alive.
The incident happened at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi province, a suburb of Bangkok, according to AP on November 24. In the video posted by the temple on its fanpage, a woman lies in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her hands and head, surprising the temple staff.
Temple staff and rescuers opened the coffin after hearing a knocking sound coming from inside, discovering the woman was still alive at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, Nonthaburi province, on November 23. Image: Khaosod English
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s manager, said he was explaining the process of applying for a death certificate to his family when he heard a light tapping sound coming from the coffin placed behind the pickup truck. He asked to open the lid of the coffin and discovered the 65-year-old woman was moving her hands and eyes wide open looking at everyone.
Temple staff immediately took her to nearby Bang Yai Hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor confirmed that the patient is currently stable, with no signs of cardiac or respiratory arrest. The reason why she fell into a deep coma, leading her family to mistakenly think she was dead, was due to severe hypoglycemia. Currently, the patient continues to stay in the hospital for intravenous fluids and is supported by the temple’s abbot for all medical expenses.
Before that, this woman was bedridden for two years in her hometown in Phitsanulok province. Seeing his sister motionless and seemingly out of breath, his brother assumed she had passed away. He placed the body in a coffin, drove 500 km to a hospital in Bangkok to donate organs according to her will. However, the hospital refused to accept her because the family could not present an official death certificate.
Unable to donate organs, the brother contacted Wat Rat Prakhong Tham on November 23 to request free cremation but was also refused due to lack of legal documents. While waiting for the procedure to be resolved, the above unexpected incident happened.
Regarding legal errors, Mr. Wutthinarong Chanrat, head of the village where the family lives, admitted that he issued the death certificate without directly examining the body. He signed the death certificate based solely on the testimony of family members and the woman’s long-term illness.
The woman was taken to a local hospital after being discovered alive. Image: AP
The medical condition of mistakenly identifying a living person as dead (Lazarus syndrome) is rare but has been recorded in many countries. In 2023 and 2024, US officials recorded at least three cases of elderly people in nursing homes in Iowa, New York and Nebraska who were declared dead but were later found to be still breathing after being moved to the funeral home. In China in 2002, a similar incident in Shanghai resulted in five officials being disciplined and the doctor involved having his medical license revoked.