Guatemala: Drama as teen wakes up in coffin during her own funeral

A 15-year-old girl in Guatemala, Yuleidy Ixcotoyac, has stunned her family after waking up inside a coffin during her own funeral, hours after her father believed she had died.

Yuleidy was reportedly being taken to a medical centre by her father, Abraham Ixcotoyac, when she suddenly collapsed. Her father, an evangelical pastor, stopped the vehicle and checked for signs of life but said he could neither detect her pulse nor feel her breathing.

Convinced that his daughter had died, he declared her dead in the early hours of Saturday without taking her to a hospital for medical confirmation.

“She had simply ceased to exist, she died on the way,” Ixcotoyac told local media – according to The Sun.

“I saw that she was no longer breathing and I couldn’t feel her pulse on her wrists. It was a very difficult situation for me. She did not go to hospital.”

However, no doctor had confirmed Yuleidy’s death, and no official death certificate had been issued before preparations for her burial began.

Her family purchased a coffin, and a funeral was organised just eight hours after she collapsed. By 2:30 p.m., mourners had gathered at the family home in El Jocote, a rural village in Guatemala, to pay their last respects.

The funeral took an unexpected turn when Yuleidy’s mother, Lesvia Ríos, noticed signs of movement inside the coffin as she wept over it.

Footage of the incident shows mourners gathered around the wooden casket as the grieving mother raised the alarm that her daughter was still alive.

“I kept saying she was alive; she wasn’t dead,” the mother also told local media.

“When I was crying on top of her casket, we opened the window and she was moving, she was waking up and suddenly she sat up.”

The family was left in disbelief as Yuleidy, who was wearing a pink T-shirt, suddenly sat up inside the coffin and began speaking.

Relatives quickly helped her out of the casket and gave her water as the atmosphere of grief gave way to celebration. Family members were heard shouting “hallelujah” as they realised she was alive.

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Yuleidy later described the moments leading up to her collapse, saying she experienced severe chest pain before losing consciousness.

Recounting her terrifying final moments before the blackout, Yuleidy said: “My heart started hurting really badly, it felt heavy and then I blacked out, like I fainted.”

The teenager is now conscious and recovering at home following the incident.

She also said that she “thanks God” for being alive.

(New York Post)