German minister, frustrated with COVID-19 crises, commits suicide

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The finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state, Thomas Schaefer, allegedly frustrated with the COVID-19 pandemic, has committed suicide.

Schaefer is believed to have taken his own life after becoming “deeply worried” over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

The 54-year-old was found dead near a railway track on Saturday with Wiesbaden prosecution’s office suggesting he died by suicide.

 

“We are in shock, we are in disbelief and, above all, we are immensely sad,” state premier Volker Bouffier said of Schaefer who was being touted as his successor.

Hesse is home to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters.

Mr Bouffier recalled that Mr Schaefer, who was Hesse’s finance chief for 10 years, had been working “day and night” to help companies and workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.

“Today, we have to assume that he was deeply worried,” said Mr Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“It’s precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him,” he added.

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