The Chinese daily reported that a family was shocked when they came to the columbarium to find the marble plaque on their father’s niche had been broken. They had a bigger shock when they realised the urn containing his ashes had also disappeared.
The Hu family, consisting of a 60-year-old man and his two sisters, had gone to the columbarium to clean it before the Qing Ming festival, which falls on 5 April this year. They said that they clean the niche every year at about this time.
The family added that they questioned the staff of the National Environment Agency, but that besides making the family wait for over 4-hours, the staff was not able to answer them. The family claimed that they had earlier received notification to move the niche s the columbarium was about to be demolished.
The National Environment Agency which manages the columbarium confirms that a report has been lodged. NEA is assisting the family while investigations are ongoing.