Bella Montoya, aged 76, was initially pronounced dead by a doctor at a Babahoyo hospital last week. However, during her wake, mourners were startled to hear knocking coming from her coffin, prompting her immediate return to the hospital for further treatment.

After spending seven days in intensive care, Ecuador's health ministry confirmed her death on Friday due to an ischemic stroke.

The ministry's statement noted that she had been continuously monitored during her time at the hospital.

Following her passing on June 16, Ms. Montoya was returned to the same funeral home before her burial at a public cemetery, according to local media reports.

The Ecuadorian health ministry has assembled a team of experts to review her case.

After being pronounced dead on June 9, Ms. Montoya was placed in a coffin and transported to a funeral parlour in Babahoyo, located southwest of the capital city Quito.

However, nearly five hours later, as her relatives opened the coffin to change her clothes for the funeral, she gasped for air, signaling signs of life.

Within minutes, firefighters arrived, and she was stretchered out of the funeral parlour, then transferred back to the same hospital for further evaluation and treatment.

Bella Montoya's case is not an isolated incident, as there have been other instances of individuals "coming alive" after being officially declared dead.

In a similar occurrence, an 82-year-old woman in New York State was discovered to be breathing while lying in a funeral home in February. She had been pronounced dead three hours earlier at a nursing home.