Coffin
This is a representational image showing flowers cover coffins at a funeral in a Baptist church on Jan. 20, 2014 in Gatton, Queensland, Australia. Getty Images

A dead South African woman managed to give birth to a stillborn baby a day ahead of her scheduled funeral service.

Funeral home staff found a motionless baby between the legs of Nomveliso Nomasonto Mdoyi, 33, as her body was being moved into a coffin, New York Daily News reported. This discovery happened 10 days after she described feeling breathlessness, to which she pronounced dead shortly following this.

Mdoyi was nine months pregnant at the time of her death.

"When we took the body from the mortuary tray to her coffin we discovered that there was a newly born baby between her legs," Fundile Makalana, the owner of Lindokuhle Funeral, told Dispatch Live. "The baby was dead. We were so shocked and frightened that we did not even have time to look at the sex of the baby."

"I have been in the business for more than 20 years and I have never heard of a dead woman giving birth," Makalana continued.

The funeral service for Mdoyi, who was a mother of five, was held in the way her family originally intended it to be. The stillborn baby, however, was buried with the mother. Makalana claimed that since Mdoyi required a coffin that was double the size because her body was enlarged from her pregnancy, Dispatch Live reported.

Mdoyi's family are still baffled by the mysterious occurrence. They are currently seeking advice from knowledgeable individuals and sangomas that can aid in effectively explaining the phenomenon at hand, Times Live reported.

It has not been confirmed what caused Mdoyi to fall ill.