The finance minister of Germany’s Hesse region, which includes Frankfurt, Thomas Schaefer, has been found dead.
According to Volker Bouffier, the state Governor of Germany’s Hesse region, Schaefer killed himself after being in despair over the fallout from the coronavirus crisis on the economy.
“We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all, we are immensely sad,” Bouffier said in a recorded statement.
According to the Wiesbaden prosection office statement, Schaefer, 54, was believed to has died from Suicide, after his body was found near a railway track.
“ Today we have to assume that these worries overwhelmed him,” Bouffier said. “He apparently couldn’t find a way out. He was in despair and left us.”
Schaefer has been the 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.
“It’s precise during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him,” Bouffier added.
