A 15-year-old girl in Guatemala has regained consciousness inside a coffin during her funeral after her family mistakenly believed she had died.
The young girl, identify as Yuleidy Ixcotoyac collapsed while her father, Abraham Ixcotoyac, an evangelical pastor, was driving her to a medical centre.
Her father said he stopped the vehicle to check her pulse and breathing but could not detect either, leading him to believe she was dead.
“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,” he told local media, according to The Sun.
The family arranged a funeral without a doctor confirming her death or an official death certificate being issued.
About eight hours after she collapsed, mourners gathered at the family home in El Jocote village for a wake.
During the gathering, her mother, Lesvia Ríos, noticed movement as she leaned over the coffin to mourn her daughter.
“I kept saying she was alive; she wasn’t dead,” Ríos told local media.
She said the family opened the coffin’s viewing window and saw Yuleidy moving before she suddenly sat up.
Footage of the incident shows the teenager, dressed in a pink T-shirt, moving inside the coffin before sitting upright as stunned mourners look on.
Family members helped her out and gave her water, while some mourners shouted “hallelujah” in celebration.
Recounting what happened before she collapsed, Yuleidy said she experienced severe chest pain before losing consciousness.
“My heart started hurting really badly, it felt heavy and then I blacked out, like I fainted,” she said.
Yuleidy was conscious and recovering at home after the incident. She also expressed gratitude to God for surviving the ordeal.
The video has circulated widely on social media, with some viewers describing the incident as a miracle and others expressing concern about the distressing experience.
The cause of her collapse and how her death was presumed without medical confirmation remain unclear.
