Thailand Woman's Funeral Pyre Halted as Tapping from Inside Coffin Detected, Monastery Personnel State

A female thought to be dead and on the verge of incineration at a Wat Rat Prakhong Tham in the suburbs of Bangkok was discovered living by temple workers.

The temple's general manager Pairat Soodthoop was "shocked" to detect a faint knock emanating from the casket, he informed news outlets.

Mr Soodthoop revealed he requested the casket to be unsealed and saw her "moving her eyelids and knocking on the side of the coffin". "She must have been knocking for several minutes," he continued.

Her brother of the 65-year-old lady said local authorities had told him his sister had died. Nevertheless, the monastery's administrator said the brother did not have a death certificate.

As Mr Soodthoop tried to clarify to the family member how to obtain a death certificate, temple staff detected a soft knock originating from inside the casket.

Once it was confirmed the lady was alive, the temple's abbot stated the patient must be taken to medical facility immediately.

The doctor subsequently verified that the woman had been experiencing severe hypoglycaemia - a condition where blood sugar levels become critically low, local accounts said.

The physician ruled out the possibility that she had suffered breathing cessation or heart failure, according to the accounts.

Her brother stated his sister had been confined to bed for the last 24 months and as her health deteriorated she appeared to have stopped breathing on the weekend, according to the monastery's manager.

Her family had journeyed from the region of Phitsanulok in Thailand for the cremation ceremony, making a nearly 311 mile trip.