A woman who was declared dead before her relatives noticed she was moving in the middle of her wake was being treated on Monday at a hospital in Ecuador.

To the astonishment of her relatives, 76-year-old Bella Montoya Tapia showed signs of life in her casket after doctors issued her death certificate hours earlier.

She was then taken to hospital to receive treatment in intensive care.

In a statement, the country’s health ministry said Montoya was first admitted to a hospital in Babahoyo on Friday.

She suffered a “presumptive cerebrovascular accident” and had a “cardiorespiratory arrest,”