New York City's death toll from Hurricane Sandy has risen to 44 with the addition of a Queens man whose body wasn't discovered until April.
A New York City man whose body was found in his trailer more than five months after Hurricane Sandy has been officially declared a victim of the storm.
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Monday announced that Keith Lancaster, 62, was the 44th Sandy-related fatality in the city. He drowned in his Queens home, the office said.
Neighbors discovered Lancaster's decomposing body inside his trailer on Rockaway Beach Boulevard on April 5, more than 150 days after Sandy swept through the area, leaving behind a trail of destruction, according to the New York Daily News.
"It's unusual," Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office, told The New York Times about the timing of the discovery.
She said the superstorm left a 5-foot-high waterline in the man's trailer. Another clue that he died during Sandy: A calendar on the wall was open to October, according to the Times.
Lancaster's body went unclaimed. He was buried in a potter’s field on Hart Island, Borakove told the Times.
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| Reuters Photo: Lucas Jackson. Sanitation workers remove debris left from flooding by Hurricane Sandy in the Queens borough of Rockaway Beach, Nov. 8. |
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Monday announced that Keith Lancaster, 62, was the 44th Sandy-related fatality in the city. He drowned in his Queens home, the office said.
Neighbors discovered Lancaster's decomposing body inside his trailer on Rockaway Beach Boulevard on April 5, more than 150 days after Sandy swept through the area, leaving behind a trail of destruction, according to the New York Daily News.
"It's unusual," Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office, told The New York Times about the timing of the discovery.
She said the superstorm left a 5-foot-high waterline in the man's trailer. Another clue that he died during Sandy: A calendar on the wall was open to October, according to the Times.
Lancaster's body went unclaimed. He was buried in a potter’s field on Hart Island, Borakove told the Times.
