Woman ‘Buried Alive By Mistake’ Tried To Escape Her Own Coffin For 11 Days, Family Says

A woman who was mistakenly buried alive is thought to have gone through something that is hard to imagine.

Rosangela Almeida dos Santos, 37 years old, is thought to have been awake and trying to get out of her grave for an unbelievable eleven days.

Rosangela Almeida dos Santos desperately tried to fight her way out of the wooden casket Image: Globo G1

Rosangela's cries for help could be heard from inside the coffin as she fought with all her strength. Tragically, her efforts left her wrists injured.

When Rosangela's body was dug up from a grave in Riachao das Neves, northeast Brazil, finding blood in the burial container was shocking.

After an agonizing wait, Rosangela's relatives smashed the stone tomb to find her corpse.

The Senhora Santana cemetery mayhem was captured in a heartbreaking video. Locals worked together to lift the hefty coffin lid and reveal the tragedy.

"When I got there right in front of the tomb, I heard banging from inside it," one eye witness said.

They added: "I thought the kids who play around the cemetery were playing a joke on me. Then I heard her groan twice, and after those two groans she stopped."

Rosangela Almeida dos Santos, 37, appears to have desperately tried to fight her way out of the wooden casket Image: Globo G1

In the video, people can be heard calling for an ambulance while others touch Rosangela's feet and remark on her warmth.

Unfortunately, she was later declared dead at the hospital, leading to her burial the next day.

The unsettling turn of events unfolded when locals residing near the cemetery alerted Rosangela's family, a staggering 11 days after she was laid to rest.

Disturbing screams and banging sounds emanating from within the tomb prompted this revelation.

Notably, Rosangela's body was still warm, and its position had shifted from that which it had originally been placed in the coffin.

Traces of her struggle were evident: injuries on her hands and forehead indicated a desperate attempt to escape the confinement.

Strangely, cotton wool that had initially been in her ears and nostrils had come out of her body.

A video has emerged showing the commotion in the Senhora Santana cemetery in Riachao das Neves, northeast Brazil (Image: Getty Images)

The family also points out that the nails along the edges of the coffin lid had been pushed upwards, with visible scratches and blood on the inside.

Germana de Almeida said: "Those nails on top were loose. Her hand was injured."

The family said they didn't believe these wounds were present when they rested their loved one.

Rosangela had spent a week at the Hospital do Oeste in Barreiras, located in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, due to severe fatigue—a condition that prompted her family to rush her there for medical care.

Tragically, Rosangela's health deteriorated rapidly, resulting in two cardiac arrests before her eventual passing due to "septic shock," as indicated on her death certificate.

Despite being married, she did not have any children.

Reports reveal that she had been grappling with fainting spells since the age of seven and was prescribed anticonvulsant medications to manage her condition.

Tributes were shared to the wife, who had no children Image: Globo G1

Rosangela was buried in a concrete tomb at the municipal cemetery in her village of Riachao das Neves after a wake. This touching occasion in January 2018 marked the end of a brave woman's life.

A subsequent police inquiry into the incident discovered that the evidence of groaning and banging could have been "rumors."

This meant that those involved in the exhumation, the deceased's family, may face charges of disturbing a grave.

According to the Brazilian penal code, this might result in a three-year prison sentence.

Civil authorities later determined that Almeida was not buried alive.