The coffin at an 8-year-old girl’s funeral unexpectedly caught fire, and the family was appalled when they learned what caused it.
The cemetery was enveloped in a thick hush, as though the ground itself were holding its breath. A few droplets of rain fell on the recently excavated cemetery as the dismal sky hung over the trees. Since nobody wanted to make an eight-year-old girl’s funeral a spectacle, only the closest relatives had shown there. The girl had passed away unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Despite the fact that there had been no prior symptoms, doctors mentioned a congenital cardiac problem.
Clad in all black, the mother’s lips quivered as she gripped a damp handkerchief. The father was standing close by, watching at one spot in silence as though nothing were happening to him. The child’s casket, adorned with plush toys and roses, didn’t seem to go in with the somber surroundings.
The wind was so strong that the priest’s voice sounded muffled when he read a prayer. A soft teddy bear that the girl had kept in the hospital was placed in the coffin by one of the family members. People bowed; a person cried in private.
There was an odd crack as if a tree had broken close by when they started to drop the coffin into the earth. Many turned around, but they were unable to speak before flames erupted from behind the coffin lid in a split second.
The audience froze. Someone yelled:
— Flames!
The black-clad woman passed out. The family hurried to the fire and attempted to use a jacket to put it out. Everything happened too quickly as the gravediggers rushed to retrieve a fire extinguisher.
The family was appalled when they eventually learned what caused the fire 
Bright and orange-blue, the flame spread unnaturally swiftly over the wooden coffin’s upper portion. The first person to respond was a former firefighter who worked at the cemetery; he yelled for the casket to be raised again.
Grabbing the ropes, two men struggled to remove the burning box. In a matter of minutes, the fire was put out.
The girl’s body was unharmed when the lid was opened. Her clothes were dry, and there was no sign of burns. The people there were stunned. The burned remains of the casket were taken by the police to be examined.
A lithium battery sewed into the stuffed teddy bear that had been placed inside the casket was the source of the fire, according to a report that was received three days later. The toy turned out to have a nightlight feature. It acted as a fuse when heated and compressed by the lid.
Many muttered, however, “The girl was trying to say something.”
