Woman found alive after knocking on coffin moments before cremation in Thailand

A Buddhist temple shared a video on Facebook showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her arms and head.

A 65-year-old Thai woman, who was believed to be dead, shocked temple staff when she started moving and knocking on her coffin after being brought in for cremation in Thailand.

Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, shared a video on its Facebook page showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving staff stunned.

Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the supposedly deceased woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.

Soodthoop said they 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.”

Soodthoop said the woman’s brother placed her in a coffin and made the 500-kilometre journey to a hospital in Bangkok, where the woman had reportedly expressed a wish to donate her organs.

The brother said his sister had been bedridden for about two years when her health deteriorated and she became unresponsive. He also claimed his sister appeared to have stopped breathing two days earlier, according to Soodthoop.

The hospital refused to accept the woman without an official death certificate, Soodthoop said.