RIO DE JANEIRO: A 36-year-old woman was found sealed alive inside a mausoleum wall at a cemetery in Brazil, after surviving around 10 hours inside the narrow tomb, police said on Thursday.

The woman was rescued after employees at a municipal cemetery noticed blood stains around a freshly sealed tomb closure on Tuesday and called emergency services, said police in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

“Police heard someone inside calling for help, broke the brick wall and removed a woman, who had injuries on her head and arms,” they said in a statement.

The victim appeared to have been placed alive on Monday night inside a wall holding dozens of above-ground tombs — a space-saving interment method — at the cemetery in the city of Visconde do Rio Branco, population 43,000. Investigators said the woman had been the target of a revenge attack by a gang after a cache of drugs and guns they hid at her house went missing.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2023