The discovery of the body of a man in a flat in Oslo nine years after he died has confounded Norwegian police.
The man, who was in his sixties and whose name has not been revealed, was found in an apartment block in the Norwegian capital in December, when a caretaker needed to access the flat to carry out maintenance. The police found a carton of milk with an expiry date of May 6, 2011, and a letter dated April 29 that year, thought to be the day of the man’s death.
The man died from natural causes, a post-mortem examination revealed, but the incident has shaken the surrounding community and prompted a debate in Oslo about loneliness.
A neighbour said that the man kept to himself. However, the public broadcaster NRK reported that he had been married several times and had children.
Grete Lien Metlid, a police inspector in Oslo, told NRK: “This is a special case, and it makes us ask questions about how it could happen.”
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Rina Mariann Hansen, the secretary for social care in Oslo, told the newspaper VG: “In a big city . . . there are unfortunately many who live lonely lives. Sometimes they choose to. The busy city life means we as humans find it harder to care.”