A prisoner in Spain who was certified "dead" by three doctors was suddenly heard snoring in his body bag just hours before he was scheduled to be cut open for his post-mortem examination Sunday.
Gonzalo Montoya Jimenez, 29, is an inmate at a jail in Asturias. Guards had reported him dead in his prison cell after they found him slumped and unconscious, Sky News reported. Jimenez reportedly became ill at Asturias Central Penitentiary the day before his "death" and so-called "resurrection."
Authorities were so certain Jimenez was dead, his body was placed in a body bag after three doctors signed off on his "death." Then Jimenez was shipped to a mortuary.
"Two prison doctors concluded he had clinical signs of death following a morning roll call and informed police, his next-of-kin and a local duty court as part of standard procedure," a spokeswoman for the Spanish Prison Service told the Sun. "The court sent a forensic doctor who was the one who actually confirmed his death."
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She continued, "I can't comment on what happened at the Institute of Legal Medicine, but three doctors have seen clinical signs of death, so it's still not clear at the moment why this occurred."
The man's body was marked and "ready to be opened up," his family told La Voz de Asturias.
But then noises came from inside the bag.
Jimenez began snoring.
Workers opened up the bag, found the man was still alive and helped him to his feet.
The prisoner is now in intensive care. Hospital sources believe he may have catalepsy, a condition in which a person's vital signs become so weak, they're barely detectable.
"Relatives have been visiting him in the hospital and are said to be feeling a mix of relief and indignation, although none of them have yet made any public comment," the Sun reported.
His father told the Spanish-language El Commercio: "It's a miracle. A miracle and huge negligence."