Cadaver chaos rocks airport

Cadaver chaos rocks airport

JAKARTA (JP): Havoc reigned at the Adisumarmo airport in
Surakarta (Solo), Central Java, on Monday when security officers
discovered two corpses inside a box intended as a cargo bound for
Banjar Baru in South Kalimantan.

The airport authorities had delayed sending the box, labeled
as "material for medical practice" because it smelled "very
strongly of coffee", according to the Kompas daily newspaper
yesterday.

When they opened the box, they found two corpses, one of a
male and the other a female, both shaven bold.

The Solo police immediately launched an investigation, tracing
the sender to his address in Yogyakarta.

They discovered that the corpses were intended for medical use
as cadavers. They had been ordered by the Lambung Mangkurat
University in Banjar Baru from the Sebelas Maret University in
Solo, where the sender is a staff lecturer.

The sender had soaked the corpses in coffee to reduce the
stench and preserve them.

University sources said it is a common practice for one
institution to request cadavers from another which has a surplus.

The police, however, were not impressed. They insisted that
next time, such a cargo should be more specifically marked and
accompanied by documents issued by the universities. (emb)