In Oslo, they found the body of a 60-year-old man who had been lying in his apartment for 9 years. But the most surprising thing is that all these years the tax office has regularly received payments from him, according to the national broadcaster NRK.
The deceased man has been at his home in Oslo since the spring of 2011. No one noticed his death, as taxes were regularly debited from his bank account. True, there were still problems with the pension – 3 years ago, the State Pension Department could not contact him and simply stopped payments. But the deceased was, as you know, all the same.
The body of the deceased was discovered in December last year. A worker who came to carry out scheduled maintenance work saw him and called the police. Norwegian law enforcement officers found an unfinished package of milk with the date of manufacture and letter, establishing the estimated time of death. Until now, the police are surprised that no one noticed the death of a person who passed away 9 years ago. Investigator Grete Lien Metlid says:
“We have thought a lot about this with colleagues, this is a really special case. We have to seriously ask ourselves how this can happen at all. “
The investigation was able to establish that the man lived alone, kept himself apart, did not communicate with neighbors. He was married several times and has children. Death came from natural causes, and “life went on” – Arne Krokan, professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, says:
“This person’s taxes and utility bills were automatically deducted from his bank account.”
In society, what happened caused a heated debate about the role of technology, which reduced physical contact between people to a minimum. Edwin Schmitt, a Norwegian cultural analyst, tweeted:
“When a member of an urban society has been lying dead in his home for nine years, and no one knows about it, and no one cares about his disappearance, then it is worth thinking a little about what kind of society we live in.”
And doctoral student in media research Tamara Niez notes:
“This is a particularly sad version of the futuristic dream of continuing to live through digital accounts. You will pay your utility bills for ages. “
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