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Indonesian killed by his mother’s falling funeral coffin
MAKASSAR, Indonesia, June 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An Indonesian was killed
when his mother’s coffin fell from a funeral tower and crushed him during a
service on the island of Sulawesi, police said Sunday.
Samen Kondorura, 40, died Friday when pallbearers lost their footing while
carrying the coffin up a bamboo ladder in the Parinding valley in North
Toraja district, local police said.
The casket fell as the group hoisted it onto a lakkian, an ornately carved
tower where the deceased is placed before elaborate traditional funeral
rites.
“As the mother’s coffin was being raised to the lakkian, suddenly the
ladder shifted and collapsed, the coffin fell and hit the victim,” Julianto
Sirait, chief commissioner of the Tana Toraja resort police, told AFP. Video
from the scene, which has gone viral online, shows the ladder slip just as
the casket enters the tower, sending the men tumbling several metres to the
ground where the victim is struck by the coffin.
Horrified onlookers rush to the men’s aid but Kondorura died later in
hospital.
Sirait said the accident happened because the ladder was not properly
reinforced but the family has declined to press charges.
The body of Kondorura is now resting alongside his mother Berta, he added.
When ethnic Torajans die, local residents hold elaborate funerals that can
last for days and involve music, dance and the sacrifice of water buffalo.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1355 hrs