The body of a man who died three years ago was not discovered until one of his neighbour's heard a radio playing in his apartment.

"/> The body of a man who died three years ago was not discovered until one of his neighbour's heard a radio playing in his apartment.

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DEATH

Man lies dead for three years before discovery

The body of a man who died three years ago was not discovered until one of his neighbour's heard a radio playing in his apartment.

The grim discovery in an apartment block in the eastern city of Strasbourg was made at the weekend after the neighbour called police about the radio which had been at full blast, day and night, for two weeks, reported regional newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace (DNA).

When police entered the apartment, they found it filled with pigeons which had got in through a window. They believe one of them had switched on the radio by sitting on it.

The man’s death had not been alerted to any authorities as his rent had continued to be paid by direct debit from his bank account. 

Police said the death of the man, who was born in 1931 and died aged 78, appeared to be from natural causes. 

“People don’t really known each other much,” said one resident, reported the DNA newspaper.

The man had lived in the apartment block since 1976, but those living there change frequently. “You only really know your immediate neighbours,” said another resident.

The head of the company that runs the building told the newspaper that he was shocked by the death.

“I’ve seen cases of people being found one or two months after their death, but never three years,” said Bernard Matter.

“We will look at other things we can do such as an alert when there is a very low consumption of water.”

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NORWAY

Body found in Oslo flat nine years after death

A man lay dead in his flat for nine years before being discovered in December, police in Oslo have said.

Body found in Oslo flat nine years after death
Photo by pichet wong from Pexels

The man, who was in his sixties, had been married more than once and also had children, national broadcaster NRK reports.

His name has been kept anonymous. According to neighbours he liked to keep to himself and when they didn’t see him, they thought he had moved or been taken to assisted living.

“Based on the details we have, it is obviously a person who has chosen to have little contact with others,” Grethe Lien Metild, chief of Oslo Police District, told NRK.

His body was discovered when a caretaker for the building he was living in requested police open the apartment so he could carry out his work.

“We have thought it about a lot, my colleagues and people who have worked with this for many years. This is a special case, and it makes us ask questions about how it could happen,” Metild said.

Police believe the man died in April 2011, based on a carton of milk and a letter that were found in his apartment. An autopsy has shown he died of natural causes.

READ ALSO: Immigrants in Norway more likely to be affected by loneliness

His pension was suspended in 2018 when the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) could not get in touch with him, but his bills were still paid out of his bank account and suspended pension fund.

Arne Krokan, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said the man’s death would have unlikely gone unnoticed for so long if he had died 30 years ago.

“In a way, it is the price we have paid to get digital services,” he said to NRK.

Last year 27 people were found in Oslo, Asker or Bærum seven days or more after dying. The year before the number was 32 people. Of these, one was dead for almost seven months before being discovered.

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