[Peculiar bone injuries by grinding in a corpse with a long immersion period (author's transl)]

Injuries frequently occur after immersion of corpses in water. Depending on the type of water different sorts of injuries, caused by drifting and being dragged, can lead to more or less severe abrasions of the soft parts of the body predominantly skin abrasions. This case is unique among hover 3000 corpses in water found in the last 4 decades in the Elbe. The corpse was found with very severe and extensive bone injuries; in fact the bones were ground down (among other injuries was a large opening in the skull). The origin is discussed: it is assumed that the corpse changed its position only minimally in the half-year period after immersion and did not drift with the stream, but on the contrary had stuck fast on or under a pontoon and was rubbed and ground against a pole or something similar. The special conditions of the Elbe River appear to have played an important role in this process.