The corpse with no name

The corpse of an unidentified man retrieved from the sea well over a month ago is stored in a refrigeration unit at Mater Dei Hospital and cannot be buried until a magisterial inquest is concluded, a police spokesman said yesterday.

Christopher Barbara, pathological chairman at Mater Dei Hospital, explained that an unidentified corpse cannot be released for burial without the inquiring magistrate's endorsement. Therefore, the corpse will remain in the morgue until then.

Refrigeration will cut down the rate of decomposition. The unit's temperature is maintained at four degrees or lower, diminishing microbial spoilage, explained Dr Barbara.

Does this incur expenses? None other than the capital expenditure of the unit and its running costs, said Dr Barbara. As the man's religion is unknown, he will be buried as a pauper.

It is unlawful for a corpse to be buried without a burial licence from the police or a Court of Justice. A legal ordinance further states that, until a licence is obtained, the corpse shall be placed in a room appointed for the purpose (a morgue).

Under normal circumstances, the licence must contain the deceased's parents' and spouse's particulars, as the case may be. It must also contain the cause, time and place of death.

A man had sighted a corpse floating face down in the sea near St Paul's islands. The corpse was still in a good state of preservation and didn't bear any signs of violence.

The man is of a dark complexion, slim and about five feet, eight inches tall. He has short black hair and was wearing a white shirt, another black shirt underneath, black tracksuit trousers with white stripes running along the side and white and black slippers.

A photograph of the dead man was distributed to the media and a post mortem examination performed on the corpse that same morning, establishing that the man died of drowning.

The mug shot shows a man who could be in his 30s with black curls and a short stubble. His open eyelids reveal bloodshot eyes and bruising on forehead and nose.

kbugeja@timesofmalta.com