Earlier this week, 76-year-old Bella Montoya managed to accomplish the impossible, crashing her own funeral, and knocking on her coffin, after being mistakenly pronounced dead.


Montoya, a former nurse, was pronounced dead on Friday, June 9 at Martín Icaza Hospital in Babahoyo, Ecuador by a doctor on duty after she didn’t respond to resuscitation efforts following a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest.



Upon hearing the tragic news, Montoya’s family, including her son Gilberto Barbera, sprang to action, coordinating a wake for “about 20” of the former nurse’s loved ones at a funeral home that same day.


“After about five hours of the wake, the coffin started to make sounds,” Barbera told the Associated Press of his mother’s very eventful wake.

“My mom was wrapped in sheets and hitting the coffin, and when we approached we could see that she was breathing heavily,” he continued. “It gave us all a fright.”



Though Montoya was rushed back into medical care upon (kind of) emerging from the dead, she was still in “serious condition,” per the news outlet. As of Monday, June 12,  she was still in intensive care.


Ecuadorian officials are currently investigating both Martín Icaza Hospital and the doctors that treated Montoya.


It is unclear whether Montoya had coordinated with the dad who crashed his own funeral via helicopter.


@el.tiktokeur2 Tu nous as eu on t aime mon ami on est content que tu es parmis nous ❤️❤️#pourtoii #fyp #fypシ @Ragnar_le_fou ♬ son original - Thomas faut