The body of a man was discovered in a clothing donation container in Avelgem, West Flanders by a passerby early on Saturday morning, VRT News reports.
A woman on her bicycle passed through the parking lot of the Ter Muncken sports centre, spotting something suspicious in her bicycle headlight. Upon approaching the bin, she saw the body of a man in the container and called the police, who quickly rushed to the scene. The local fire brigade quickly erected a screen to prevent members of the public viewing the incident.
The body was quickly identified as belonging to a 53-year-old man from the local area. Investigators assume that something went wrong while the man was attempting to steal clothes from the container late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
Falling into the container, the man became trapped and suffocated due to a lack of oxygen. The container has now been cordoned off and closed until further notice.
Mayor Lut Deseyn van Avelgen states that the incident was regrettable. “The container has been there for a long time. There were never any problems with it. There are cameras around. I don’t see what measures we can take to avoid something like this in the future,” she said.
