A 65-year-old woman from Thailand, presumed dead, shocked temple workers in Bangkok when they heard faint noises coming from her coffin just before her scheduled cremation.
Pairat Soodthoop, who manages general and financial affairs at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple, recounted to The Associated Press on Monday how he was discussing the cremation details with the woman’s brother when they were startled by sounds emanating from the coffin.
“I was quite taken aback,” Pairat admitted. “I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was in shock. Inside, we saw her eyes opening slightly as she tapped the coffin’s side. It seemed she had been trying to get attention for some time.”
The incident at the Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi province, near Bangkok, was captured in a Facebook video. It showed the woman, clad in white, inside a coffin on the back of a pickup truck, moving her arms and head, leaving the staff in disbelief.
An emergency rescue team quickly transported the elderly woman, who was discovered to be alive, to a nearby hospital. This occurred just before her intended cremation at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, on November 23, 2025.
Pairat explained that the woman’s brother had brought her from Phitsanulok province, believing she was ready for cremation.
In video posted by the temple, the woman could be seen slightly moving her arms and head from inside the coffin. (Wat Rat Prakhong Tham )
Pairat said the brother explained that his sister had been bedridden for about two years before her health declined and she appeared to stop breathing two days earlier. Believing she was dead, he placed her in a coffin and made the 300-mile trip to a Bangkok hospital, where she had wished to donate her organs.
Pairat Soodthoop said staff at the temple were shocked when they heard a faint knocking from inside the coffin. (Wat Rat Prakhong Tham )
The hospital, however, refused to accept the woman without an official death certificate, Pairat said. The brother then turned to the temple on Sunday, which offers free cremations, but was also turned away for lacking the document.
While Pairat was explaining how to obtain the certificate, they heard knocking from the coffin. Staff opened it, confirmed she was alive and sent her to a nearby hospital.
The abbot later said the temple would cover her medical expenses, according to Pairat.
