Grieving son killed by mother’s coffin

A GRIEVING son was killed when his mother’s coffin fell from a tower and crushed him during her funeral.

Samen Kondorura, 40, died after pallbearers lost their footing while carrying the casket of his mother, Berta, up a bamboo ladder at the traditional service in Indonesia.

The coffin fell as the men lifted it on to the second floor of a lakkian – an ornately carved funeral tower – in the Parinding valley, North Toraja.

Online video from the scene last Friday shows the ladder slip just as the casket enters the tower, sending the whole group tumbling to the ground where Mr Kondorura is struck. He died later in hospital.

Julianto Sirait, chief commissioner of the local police, said the accident happened because the ladder was not properly reinforced.