She had stunned Ecuador by breathing in her coffin as she was pronounced dead. Hospitalized since, Bella Montoya, 76, has finally breathed her last.
The video had gone viral on the networks: we saw the Ecuadorian inside an open coffin and breathing noisily, surrounded by two men who came to her aid.
With her “left hand, she hit the walls and her hand was shaking,” said her son, Gilber Balberan, in another video broadcast by local media.
However, she was declared dead on June 9 after being admitted to the public hospital in Babahoyo (south-west) for a stroke. She had “suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest without reacting to resuscitation maneuvers, following which the doctor on duty confirmed her death”, according to the Ministry of Health.
Since her “resurrection”, in the words of the local press, Bella Montoya had been hospitalized in the intensive care unit. On Friday, she died of the “ischemic stroke” she had suffered, health authorities in the region announced on Twitter.
Quoted by the daily El Universo, his son Gilber confirmed the death. “This time my mother is really dead […]my life will never be the same again,” he said.
The Ministry of Health has launched an investigation to “determine responsibility” for the erroneous death certificate.