A 65-year-old Thai woman slated for cremation at a Buddhist temple outside Bangkok was found alive Sunday after staff heard knocking from inside her coffin, halting preparations and sending her to a hospital, according to temple officials.
Wat Rat Prakhong Tham in Nonthaburi said the woman’s brother had driven her roughly 300 miles from Phitsanulok after she appeared to stop breathing two days earlier; a hospital refused the body without a death certificate, and the temple likewise declined to proceed until he obtained one — a delay that likely saved her life, according to the Associated Press. The temple later posted a video showing the woman moving her arms and head while lying in a white coffin in a pickup truck. (RELATED: Radio Free Asia Cites ‘Unverified’ Reports Of Live Cremations In China)
“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told the AP. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”
TOPSHOT – Tourists visit the Wat Rong Suea Ten Buddhist temple, popularly known as “Blue Temple,” in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province on May 26, 2025. Image not from story. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images)
Pairat said the woman had reportedly been bedridden for about two years before becoming unresponsive, which led her family to prepare for organ donation and cremation; the lack of a death certificate stopped both, he said. Temple staff assessed her after hearing the knocks and arranged transport to a nearby hospital for treatment, while the abbot pledged to cover her medical costs, according to Pairat.
The outlet noted several recent cases where people declared dead were later found breathing at funeral home.
