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Society
Photo: DPA

Car thieves steal van full of bodies

Published: 17 Oct 12 16:21 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20121017-45623.html

Car thieves who stole a number of vans from a Berlin car park will get a shock when they finally open them up – one was stacked with 12 coffins complete with bodies, which were due to be driven to a crematorium.

The driver had just loaded the coffins into the van and had gone to wash his hands before driving from the German capital to the crematorium in Meissen, Saxony, a company spokesman said. But when he came back to the van, it was gone.

“The driver did everything right,” the spokesman told Die Welt newspaper, adding that he had even locked the van for the few minutes that he was away.

A spokesman for the Meissen town authorities confirmed that the bodies had been expected. Bodies are often taken there for cremation because it is particularly cheap, the paper said.

Now 12 families face an uncertain wait for the ashes of their loved-ones, while police try to track down the vehicle.

Several vans were stolen on that Sunday night. One has already been found in the western Polish city of Poznań – but it was not the one with the bodies.

“The perpetrators were probably not intending to steal 12 bodies,” said Ingo Kechichian, spokesman for the Frankfurt am Oder state prosecutor.

The Local/DPA/hc

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

13:12 October 18, 2012 by Zubair Khan
What a mess and agony for loved ones. At least thieves could have seen what was loaded at back. Might be thinking empty coffin boxes. Warning indicator society ethics deteriorating.
05:08 October 19, 2012 by CoolBlueIce
I hope this story isn't related to the one a few stories above it, "Rotten meat at butcher shops simply the wurst". Yikes!
15:02 October 19, 2012 by rmsbl4
Halloween is coming(props for haunted house) Sorry for the levity.
12:26 October 23, 2012 by franconia
Vacation in Poland, your car is already there !!!
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