A woman in Thailand has shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation.

Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pick-up truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.

Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told the Associated Press on Monday that the 65-year-old woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.

He said they heard a faint knock coming from the coffin.

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

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

According to Pairat, the brother said his sister had been bedridden for about two years, when her health deteriorated and she became unresponsive, appearing to stop breathing two days ago.

The brother then placed her in a coffin and made the 500-kilometre journey to a hospital in Bangkok, to which the woman had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.

The hospital refused to accept the brother’s offer as he had no official death certificate, Pairat said.

His temple offers a free cremation service, which is why the brother went there on Sunday. He was also initially refused due to the missing document.

The temple manager said the knocking was heard as he explained to the brother how to get a death certificate. The woman was then assessed and taken to a nearby hospital.

The abbot said the temple would cover her medical expenses, according to Pairat.

-AAP