A woman narrowly escaped cremation and organ donation after her family mistakenly believed she had passed away.
Chonthirat Sakulkoo, a 65-year-old Thai woman, was transported in a coffin for several hundred miles to Wat Rat Prakhong Tham Buddhist temple for cremation. Her brother, Mongkol Sakulkoo, assumed she had stopped breathing two days earlier.
Chonthirat had been bedridden for nearly two years, and as her condition worsened, she became unresponsive, leading her brother to think she had died.
In adherence to his sister’s last wishes, Mongkol transported Chonthirat to Bangkok, 300 miles from Phitsanulok, their home province, for her final arrangements.
Reports indicate that he brought her to a hospital, where she had expressed her desire for organ donation.
However, the hospital staff refused to accept her body as Mongkol lacked an official death certificate.
After the hospital declined, he proceeded to Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, known for its free cremation service.
Yet, the temple also required a death certificate to perform the cremation, ensuring her death was properly documented.
READ MORE:
HORRIFYING SIMULATION SHOWS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ‘WOMAN WOKE UP AT HER OWN BURIAL’
While temple manager Pairat Soodthoop explained how to obtain the death certificate, a faint knock was heard from inside the coffin.
Soodthoop recounted, “I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled. I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin.
“She must have been knocking for quite some time.”
Realizing Chonthirat was alive, temple staff assessed her before she was transported to a hospital.
The Thai newspaper, Thairath, reported that she was taken to Bang Yai Hospital for treatment of hypoglycemia, a condition characterized by excessively low blood sugar levels.
Soodthoop mentioned that the temple would also cover her medical expenses.
According to Thairath, when asked about his reaction to discovering his sister was alive, Mr. Sakulkoo expressed indifference.
A similar incident occurred in Ecuador in 2023 when a woman declared dead in a hospital was found to be alive during her wake after her family heard knocking from her coffin.