Belgorod police are looking for the funeral workers who discarded a number of zinc caskets, used by the Russian military for transporting the remains of dead servicemen, into an ordinary dumpster. Belgorod Mayor Anton Ivanov acknowledged this on his Telegram channel, writing:
It’s hard to describe my emotions about this incident. Do these people have a heart? How is it possible to be so negligent towards our heroes, who gave their lives to protect you and me?
Local residents found the caskets in a pile of garbage at the local dumpster. The local media explain that, since the relatives of the deceased wanted to replace the zinc caskets with traditional wooden coffins, mortuary workers got rid of the used caskets at the dumpster.
Hermetically sealed zinc caskets are used for transporting bodies and for their extended storage. Unsealing a casket is forbidden in some cases: if more than a month has passed since the moment of death; if the body is significantly disfigured; and if the deceased was in contact with radioactive matter before dying.
Referring to the negligent funeral workers, Mayor Ivanov wrote:
The investigators have been looking for these people for several days. The court will decide how to punish them in accordance with the law. But, first of all, these people will never again take part in farewell ceremonies for our dead soldiers.
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