A premature baby declared dead by doctors was found to be alive hours later when he was taken home for a funeral wake.
The baby's father, Jose Alvarenga, was told by doctors that his son had died shortly after birth.
Staff from the state-run hospital in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, delivered the infant's body to Mr Alvarenga's home four hours later.
Shortly afterwards, the grieving father opened the baby's coffin to bid an emotional farewell to his son.
"I opened it to look at his remains and found that the baby was breathing," Mr Alvarenga said. "I began to cry."
He rushed back to the hospital with his unnamed baby in his arms and nurses placed the infant in an oxygen chamber.
He is now reported to be in a stable condition.
"This is a very unusual case," said Ernesto Weber, head of paediatric intensive care at the hospital.
He acknowledged that the doctor handling the case did not properly check the infant's vital signs, and said an investigation would be carried out.
However Aida Notario, a doctor at the hospital's birthing centre, said that medics tried to revive the baby for a whole hour. "His pulse was so low that it was undetectable," he said.
According to medical records, the baby weighed only 500g (17.6oz).
The smallest on record was an American baby who weighed just 280g (10oz), born at less than 22 weeks.
The baby was declared dead at a state-run hospital in the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion
Two years ago, a baby boy from Leeds ‘came back to life’ 30 minutes after doctors pronounced him dead.
Medical staff at Leeds General Infirmary had tried in vain to resuscitate two-week-old Woody Lander after the little boy suffered a heart attack.
He was handed over to parents Jon and Karen Lander so they could say goodbye, but half an hour later the couple heard the boy cough and doctors started his heart.
