Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany's Hesse state, committed suicide on the weekend after apparently becoming "deeply worried" over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus, state premier Volker Bouffier said on Sunday, according to AFP.
Thomas Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution's office said they believe he died by suicide.
"We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad," Bouffier said in a recorded statement.
Hesse is home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The European Central Bank is also located in Frankfurt.
Bouffier recalled that Schaefer, who was 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.
"Today we have to assume that he was deeply worried," said Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"It's precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him," he added.
Schaefer leaves behind a wife and two children.
As of Sunday, the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Germany had stood at 52,547. A total of 389 people have died of the disease in Germany.
Italy has been one of the hardest hit countries in Europe from coronavirus, with 10,023 deaths and 92,472 infected as of Saturday.
Spain, meanwhile, has the highest death toll in Europe after Italy. On Saturday the country recorded 832 deaths from the virus, bringing the total number of victims to 5,690.