A 76-year-old woman was admitted to hospital in the Ecuadorian town of Babahoyo on Friday with a possible stroke.

As she had not responded to resuscitation attempts, she was declared dead by a doctor, AP writes.

The son tells the news agency that the mother was unconscious when she was admitted to the hospital and that a few hours later he was handed her ID papers and a death certificate.

But during the memorial service, sounds were heard from the coffin.

Around five hours after the memorial service started, the coffin started making noises. My mother, who was wrapped in the sheet, hit the coffin. When we walked up we could see that she was breathing heavily, says the son.

The woman was sent straight back to the hospital Martín Icaza, where she has since been admitted to an intensive care unit.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Health has set up a committee to investigate the hospital’s routines when it comes to printing death certificates.