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It’s the stuff nightmares are made of.
A viral video has captured the shocking moment a 15-year-old girl – believed to be dead – suddenly woke up inside a coffin at her funeral in Guatemala.
The dramatic ordeal unfolded after the teen, named Yuleidy Ixcotoyac, reportedly passed out while being driven to a medical center by her dad, Abraham Ixcotoyac.
The frantic father, an evangelical pastor, immediately stopped the car and checked his daughter’s pulse and breathing.
Claiming to find neither, he declared her dead on the spot in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“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.”
In a shocking twist, a doctor never actually confirmed the diagnosis and an official death certificate was never issued.
Instead, because burying a loved one soon after passing is a common custom in the country, a coffin was immediately purchased.
Just eight hours after she collapsed, a funeral was arranged, with mourners gathering around the family home in the rural village of El Jocote at 2:30 p.m.
Dramatic footage from the wake shows mourners crowded around a wooden casket when Yuleidy’s weeping mum, Lesvia Ríos, leaned over the box and noticed faint movement inside.
“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.”
Confused family members couldn’t believe their eyes as the teen, dressed in a pink T-shirt, suddenly shot up and started speaking.
Stunned loved ones helped the shaken girl out of the coffin and offered her a cup of water, before the grief quickly turned to joy and the family began yelling “hallelujah.”
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 15-year-old is now conscious and recovering at home.
She said that she “thanks God” for being alive.
The footage has since gone viral, with hundreds taking to social media to comment on the ordeal.
While many said it was a “miracle”, others said the poor girl is now undoubtedly “traumatized.”
Some poked fun saying: “Note to self – don’t faint in Guatemala,” while others were surprised at the sheer speed of the funeral turnaround.
“How quickly did they get her in a coffin?!” one person exclaimed.
“This is why I want to be cremated just in case I’m alive and I wake up and I’m underground,” another horrified user weighed in.
“When irrational fears are no longer irrational,” someone else commented.
Guatemalan health authorities have not spoken out about the incident.