A Coffin Fell Out of a Hearse in São Paulo — Who Is Allowed to Transport the Dead?

霊柩車から棺桶が落ちた――サンパウロ「死者を運ぶ4社」の意外な仕組み

If this were a ghost story, a coffin falling out of a moving hearse would almost invite a supernatural explanation.

But what happened in São Paulo, Brazil, on September 23, 2026, appears to have been much more earthly. In São Miguel Paulista, on the city’s eastern side, a coffin carrying a deceased person fell from a hearse and ended up on the road.

That is strange enough on its own. Yet the more interesting part of the story appears behind the accident itself: in São Paulo, transporting the dead is not simply a matter for any funeral company with a suitable vehicle. It is part of a tightly regulated public-service system.

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