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The woman who died at her own funeral

A Russian woman survives a presumably fatal heart attack — only to die from the shock of waking up in her own casket

Attending your own funeral is the stuff of movies and nightmares: Unfortunately for one Russian woman, it was a reality.

Attending your own funeral is the stuff of movies and nightmares: Unfortunately for one Russian woman, it was a reality. Photo: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Corbis

A Russian woman who had been pronounced dead suddenly awoke in a casket two days later during her own funeral in Kazan, Russia. The shock killed her, says Britain's Daily Mail. Here, a brief guide to this sad, bizarre case:

How did this happen?
Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49, collapsed at her home with chest pains. Doctors at a hospital in Kazan, Russia, told her husband Fagill, 51, that she'd suffered a massive heart attack, and was dead. The family gathered for her funeral two days later, and, as grieving relatives filed past the open casket, the "dead" woman's eyes fluttered, and opened.

Did she realize what was going on?
Apparently, yes. She heard mourners praying for her soul to go to heaven. Realizing where she was, she started screaming. "We immediately rushed her back to the hospital," says her widower, as quoted by Austrian Times, "but she only lived for another 12 minutes in intensive care before she died again, this time for good."

What will the family do now?
The hospital has launched an investigation into how the doctors could have been so wrong. Fagili Mukhametzyanov says he plans to sue. "I'm very angry and want answers," he says, as quoted by Austrian Times. "She wasn't dead when they said she was and they could have saved her." It's hard to imagine such a shock, says Zack Oleson at Scallywag & Vagabond. "I'm surprised Mr. Mukhametzyanov didn't die of shock himself."

Sources: Daily Mail, Austrian Times, Scallywag & Vagabond

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