Autopsy results expected to shed light to woman's death, allegedly buried alive

Coroner Fotios Hatzinikolaou told ANA-MPA that the body has already been transferred to the morgue and the autopsy will be possibly performed in the afternoon. A coroner from the city of Ioannina, who was called by the European Interbalkan Medical Center - which issued the death certificate will also attend the autopsy.

The European Interbalkan Medical Center said in a medical report that a specialist doctor on September 25 at 6.31 a.m. ascertained the death of the 49-year-old woman, a cancer patient in the last stages of the disease. Her death was ascertained through a clinical examination and confirmed by an electrocardiogram.

The head of the National Centre for Emergency Care (EKAB) Chryssi Matsikoudi, who was the doctor on duty on Thursday, told ANA-MPA that the ambulance arrived at the cemetery a few minutes after the emergency line 100 received a phone call reporting that voices calling for help were heard from the grave.

"When the ambulance arrived, the burial was not over; the undertaker was still working on it. After the exhumation, a cardiogram was performed and it was ascertained that the woman was dead. Shortly I also arrived at the spot and saw that the body was in rigor mortis (postmortem rigidity). Rigor mortis cannot occur within 10 minutes. The woman could not be possibly crying for help and then be discovered in rigor mortis. Her eyes were open but the coroner could give an explanation for this. As for her mouth, I cannot say it was open, it was rather loose," Matsikoudi said.

Thessaloniki police on Thursday started investigating the allegations of the woman's relatives, according to which the 49-year-old woke up from a coma but died from asphyxia in her coffin shortly after her burial.

Thessaloniki prosecution has been informed of the case and a preliminary investigation is already underway.