Video: man killed by his mother’s falling coffin

Samen Kondorura was crushed after
pallbearers fell off ladder during service on Indonesian island

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Samen Kondorura, 40, was killed after pallbearers lost their
footing while carrying the coffin up a bamboo ladder as part of the
burial ritual on the island of Sulawesi.

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”, says The Guardian.

“Suddenly the ladder shifted and collapsed, the coffin fell and
hit the victim,” Julianto Sirait, chief commissioner of the Tana
Toraja resort police, told Paris-based news agency AFP.

Kondorura’s body has been placed alongside that of his mother,
Berta, added Sirait.

Video footage from the funeral, on Friday, “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”, says Metro.

Local news site Khaleej Times claimed that the ladder was not
properly secured by local authorities.

Kondorura’s family “has decided not to sue officials”, reports
The Sun.

Traditional Indonesian funerals “can last for days, with
services involving music, dance and the sacrifice of water
buffalo”, adds the newspaper.