A funeral worker who took a selfie next to the open casket of Diego Maradona as the football legend’s body lay in state in Buenos Aires has been fired, according to Sky Sports.
The images were shared widely online and led to international outrage, including death threats.
Claudio Fernandez, who has begged for forgiveness, told Radio Diez on Friday that he had lost his job at the Sepelios Pinier funeral home, along with his son Ismael and a third man.
In one of the disturbing images, a man is seen giving a thumbs-up to the camera with one hand, while the other appears to be touching the forehead of the late Argentine icon, who died of a heart attack on Wednesday, aged 60.
Fernandez claimed they had not planned to take the photo.
“It was something instantaneous. I’d just raised my head and my son did it like any kid of 18,” he told the radio station.
He said he had received threats from others living in the El Paternal neighbourhood where Maradona made his professional debut with Argentinos Juniors.
“They know me. I’m from the neighbourhood,” he said. “They say they are going to kill us, break our heads.”
The three were hired by the funeral parlour to help prepare Maradona’s body and carry the coffin, according to Argentinian TV channel TN.
The station said the funeral parlour manager Matias Picon was “devastated” and claimed the trio were not directly employed by them, and that they were hired by a third party.
Mr Picon told TN: “The family trusted us, we have been working with them for a long time. My father is 75-years-old and he is crying, I am crying, my brother too, we are destroyed.”
Source: Skysports.com.
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