I guess they're used to people sleeping at their desks

Tax official's desk death unnoticed for two days

A tax official who died at his desk in Helsinki went unnoticed by colleagues for two days.

The man, a tax auditor in his 60s, died last Tuesday while checking tax returns.

But newspaper reports say no-one realised he was dead until Thursday.

The head of personnel at the office in the Finnish capital said the man's closest colleagues were out at meetings when he died.

He said everyone at the tax office was feeling dreadful - and procedures would have to be reviewed, says BBC News Online.

According to the Finnish tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, co-workers assumed the dead man was silently poring over returns.

"The reason for this was caused by many coincidences," Anita Wickstroem, director at the Helsinki tax office, told AFP news agency.

"He was very much working alone and often visiting companies, while his friends and colleagues who used to have lunch or coffee with him were busy in meetings or outside the office at the time," she added.

There were about 100 other staff in the auditing department on the same floor the dead tax official worked on.