Missing Croat lay dead at home for 8 years

ZAGREB, Aug 29 (Reuters) A Croatian man lay dead for eight years in his flat in downtown Zagreb before a neighbour discovered the body, a local newspaper reported today.

Ivan Bosanac, born in 1918, went missing in February 1999.

His nephew reported his absence to the police, which conducted a brief search of the small attic flat -- located just off Zagreb's main square -- but found nothing.

''The flat was full of garbage, literally up to the roof. The policeman had a look inside and concluded there was nobody there,'' the nephew, Drazen Bosanac, told the Jutarnji List daily.

Eight years later the next door neighbour, Sasa Mersinjak, decided to clean up the place.

''I put my gloves on and, after digging through the rubble for an hour, I found the body, bare bones covered in a winter coat,'' Mersinjak said. ''The flat smelled really bad all these years, but I had always thought it was because of that heap of garbage inside.'' REUTERS SS VC1600