An elderly woman was declared dead - and woke up hours later inside a coffin at the undertakers.

The 88-year-old woman died two days after the incident and police in Brazil's Minas Gerais state are investigating if poor medical care and the misdiagnosis contributed to her death.

The O Globo newspaper, citing a press release from the Ipatinga mayor's office, says doctors thought Maria das Dores da Conceicao had died on Wednesday afternoon.

But she awoke inside the coffin four hours later and was rushed back to hospital.

The mayor's statement said she died on Friday. It did not give a cause, but said she suffered from hypertension.