In brief
A 65-year-old woman in Thailand, initially presumed dead, was discovered alive just moments before her cremation when staff heard knocking from her coffin. The woman was hospitalised after being diagnosed with severe hypoglycaemia. This incident raises questions about protocol in determining death in medical settings.
A woman thought to be dead, who was about to be cremated at a Buddhist temple in the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, has been found alive by staff.
Pairat Soodthoop, general manager of the Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple, was 'startled' to hear a faint knock from the coffin, he told the Associated Press news agency.
Mr. Soodthoop said he asked for the coffin to be opened and saw the woman 'opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin'. 'She must have been knocking for quite some time,' he added.
The brother of the 65-year-old woman said local officials told him his sister had died. However, the temple's manager noted that the brother did not possess a death certificate.
As Mr. Soodthoop explained to the brother how to obtain a death certificate, staff heard another faint knock from inside the coffin.
Once it became clear the woman was alive, the temple's abbot declared she should be taken to the hospital immediately.
A doctor later confirmed that the woman had been experiencing severe hypoglycaemia - a condition where blood sugar levels drop critically low, local reports said.
The doctor ruled out the possibility that she had suffered respiratory failure or cardiac arrest, according to the reports.
The brother stated his sibling had been bedridden for the last two years and that her health had worsened, leading to the belief that she had stopped breathing on Saturday.
The family had traveled nearly 500km (311 miles) from Phitsanulok province for the cremation ceremony.
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