A Brazilian woman was reportedly buried alive by mistake and possibly lay conscious inside her coffin for eleven days, desperately trying to fight her way out. When the relatives took out the coffin after local people 'heard noises from inside', the woman was indeed lifeless, but her body was still warm.
The dead body Rosangela Almeida dos Santos, 37, was put in a wooden casket and buried in a stone tomb after she was declared dead by the doctors on January 28. Later, people living near the cemetery alerted the family of the 'deceased' when they heard screaming and banging noises from inside the tomb.
Rosangela's family decided to smash the tomb and take the wooden casket out on Friday, February 9. They found the body of the woman, which was already lifeless, still warm and injured, reported Daily Mirror.
A video has hit the internet showing the commotion in the Senhora Santana Cemetery in Riachão das Neves, northeast Brazil when the heavy coffin was taken out and the lid was removed. While some people wanted to call the ambulance, others touched the feet of the woman and said that it's warm.
Cotton wool which was put in the woman's ears and nostrils had come out; there were injuries on her hands and forehead which led many to assume that she had tried hard to fight her way out.
Her warm body and injuries hint that the woman might have been alive still when she was put in the coffin. The nails that were around the sides of the coffin lid had also been pushed upwards, and there was blood inside it.
According to the death certificate, Santos suffered two cardiac arrests before dying from "septic shock". She had been at the Hospital do Oeste in Barreiras, in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, for a week, she was taken there by the family after she reportedly suffered from severe fatigue, the Daily Mirror reported.
The family believes that Santos was declared dead by mistake and have reported the incident to police. Santos' sister, Isamara Almeida, said: "We don't want to accuse any doctor, we don't want to cause any problems, but we witnessed that situation, there's just no way a person can be buried for 11 days and still be warm."
Police chief Arnaldo Monte, who is leading the investigation, said: "We have today started to take statements from family members and other people.
Monte added: "If need be we will exhume Ms. Santos' body again so we can get to the bottom of what really happened."
A spokesman for the Hospital de Oeste said they, "will provide all necessary information requested from them to the family and authorities."
