State premier Volker Bouffier said on Sunday that Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state has committed suicide apparently after becoming “deeply worried” over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday.

The Wiesbaden prosecution’s office said they believe he died by suicide.

Police and prosecutors said factors including the questioning of witnesses and their own observations at the scene led them to conclude that Schaefer killed himself.