A 65-year-old Thai woman was nearly cremated alive on Sunday and was only spared when temple staff heard her knocking on her coffin door, according to the Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple.
The temple's general affairs manager, Pairat Soodthoop, said the woman’s brother transported her from Phitsanulok province to the cremation site, about 300 miles from the temple. He made the journey knowing the temple offered free cremations, but was refused when he couldn’t provide a valid death certificate.
The conversation was paused when Soodthoop heard noise from the coffin, he told the Associated Press.
“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”
How is the Thai woman's health now?
The woman was bedridden for two years, the brother reportedly told Soodthoop, and she was said to have been unresponsive for two days after her health deteriorated. It was reported that he believed she had died, and a local hospital refused to carry out the cremation without a valid death certificate.
The Buddhist temple later updated that officials visited the elderly woman in the hospital and provided her caretaker with 10,000 Baht to assist in her care.
The woman will remain in the hospital until she is well enough to travel back to her hometown.