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 ones own funeral is the stuff of movies and nightmares
(Image credit: 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?

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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