Lack of law detailing liability for body retrieval results in extortion

DENG SHUCHAO, a resident of Panzhihua city, Southwest China's Sichuan province, committed suicide by jumping into the Yangtze River on Nov 30. Some fishermen found his body on Dec 3 but asked for 18,000 yuan ($2,800) from his parents for its recovery. His parents could not afford that, and the body was left in water for three days until the police negotiated a discount. The local government should provide such aid and services, says a comment on Beijing News:

Many people have blamed the fishermen for acting immorally. That accusation is correct because they did act immorally. When the boy's parents were weeping at the riverside, the fishermen added to their woe by asking for money to recover the body.

But the moral blame is rather empty because there is no law requiring them to do so without payment and moral blame alone won't change their attitude. Where was the local government when the parents of the dead needed help? No government department offered the couple assistance during the three days while the body of their son remained in the water.