Woman buried alive in cemetery rescued after 10 hours trapped inside tomb

The victim is currently in intensive care and may need her finger amputated, hospital staff have indicated

The woman was found by gravediggers at Visconde do Rio Branco Municipal Cemetery (Military Police/ Divulga)

A woman who was buried alive at a cemetery in Brazil has been rescued after being trapped for more than 10 hours inside a tomb.

Two men have been arrested after a 36-year-old woman was found entombed at the Visconde do Rio Branco Municipal Cemetery in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

The victim is currently in intensive care and may need her finger amputated, hospital staff have indicated.

The mother-of-four was beaten and dragged from her home on 28 March before she was abandoned at the burial site, police said.

The victim managed to survive in the tomb for 10 hours before gravediggers noticed fresh cement and blood near the grave.

After hearing a woman’s voice crying for help, they immediately called the police.

The Visconde do Rio Branco Civil Police confirmed the arrests, which took place on Saturday night in the municipalities of São Geraldo and Viçosa, during a press conference on Tuesday.

The defendants, who have not been named, were planning to escape after abandoning the woman’s body at the cemetery, police chief Diego Candian said.

Gravediggers heard the woman’s cries coming from inside the tomb (Military Police/ Divulga)

The men, aged 20 and 22, had previously been arrested on weapons and drug trafficking charges. They will be held in pre-trial detention for up to 30 days.

The woman said she had been attacked after she “misplaced” drugs and weapons she was storing for them at her home.

Police said they were searching for a third suspect in connection with the crime.

Police said they are searching for a third suspect (Military Police)

“There is still an individual who is on the run,” police chief Douglas Moto said. “We are still working incessantly to be able to locate this individual and as soon as possible make the arrest, and then leave them at the disposal of the justice [sytem].”

When the suspects forced entry into her home last month, they also attacked her husband, who managed to escape.

The assailants then dragged her from the house, took her to the cemetery and bundled her inside the tomb.

The woman was found by gravediggers at Visconde do Rio Branco Municipal Cemetery (Google Maps)

The woman said she realised she was trapped once she had regained consciousness.

Emergency rescuers pulled her from the burial chamber after the gravediggers who discovered her called the police.

The woman suffered a head injury and is at risk of losing one of her fingers, João Batista Hospital director Henrique Slaid told Brazilian news outlet G1.

The victim is reportedly in intensive care after suffering a head injury (Google Maps)

“The possibility of vascular surgery is being evaluated and perhaps amputation,” said Slaid, while adding that the victim is in intensive care and improving.