A woman brought for cremation at a Thai temple was found to be alive after staff heard her knocking on the coffin.

The 65-year-old was brought to the Buddhist temple, Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, for cremation by her brother, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, Pairat Soodthoop, told The Associated Press (AP).

Staff at the temple on the outskirts of Bangkok heard a faint knocking before finding her to be alive, he told the outlet.

“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled.

“I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”

The woman was bedridden for two years and appeared to become unresponsive and stop breathing days before the incident, according to Soodthoop’s account of the brother’s story.

Soodthoop said the brother was refused cremation for his sister as he did not have an official death certificate.

He earlier brought her to a Bangkok hospital, to which she wished to donate her organs, and was rejected for the same reason, he told AP.

He drove over 500km from another province to the hospital with his sister in the coffin.

The temple manager told AP he was telling the brother how to get a death certificate when they heard the knocks on the coffin.

She was then assessed and sent to a nearby hospital.