A funeral at a Buddhist temple in Thailand took a shocking turn when a woman believed to be dead and was about to be cremated was discovered alive inside her coffin, according to the BBC.
The incident happened at the Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple on the outskirts of the capital, Bangkok.
Temple general manager Pairat Soodthoop told the Associated Press that he was “startled” after staff heard a faint knocking from inside the coffin moments before a planned cremation, the BBC reported.
Mr Pirat immediately ordered it opened and saw the 65-year-old woman, whom the BBC did not name, “opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side.”
He said the woman’s younger brother had informed the temple that she had died, but he did not have a death certificate.
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According to the BBC, staff were in the middle of explaining how to obtain the document when the knocking interrupted the conversation.
Once it became clear the woman was alive, the temple’s abbot, or head of a Buddhist monastery, instructed that she be rushed to hospital.
A doctor later confirmed she was suffering from severe hypoglycaemia—critically low blood sugar—which can cause loss of consciousness and extremely shallow breathing.
Local reports cited by the BBC say the doctor ruled out cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.
The brother told the temple that his sister had been bedridden for two years and appeared to have stopped breathing on Saturday.
Believing she had died, the family travelled almost 500km from Phitsanulok to Bangkok for the cremation ceremony.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OUR READERS OFTEN ASK
Thai authorities have not said whether any investigation will follow, but the case raises uncomfortable questions: how a presumed death was accepted without documentation, and how close Thailand came to a live cremation.
For the temple staff, the outcome was a miracle. For everyone else, it is a reminder that even in 2025, you should not trust your eyes —or your pulse check—without a doctor.
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