An Italian-flagged ship, with the captain’s corpse in its storage room, was stranded off Jakarta for six weeks. The crew repeatedly pleaded for assistance but was unable to find a port that would take a corpse during the pandemic, CNN reports.

Also read: Sports commentator sings upon spotting woman in the stand, netizens outraged

Captain Angelo Capurro’s body was returned to Italy, where his grieving family is seeking answers about his death and treatment.

The captain had started showing COVID-19 symptoms on his second day onboard. Confined to his cabin, the 61-year-old died six days later. His death meant that the ship – MV Ital Libera – was left without a shipmaster. 

Also read: Behind Airbus-Boeing truce lies a common rival: China

“Without going into details, we all know how we can find it. I don’t even know if we’ll be able to do the autopsy,” said the family’s lawyer Raffaella Lorgna.

Capurro had undertaken a 25-day journey to Asia on April 1. He has tested negative for COVID-19.