Claudia Zobel’s body found intact 29 years after bold star’s death

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CEBU CITY, Philippines — When her coffin was opened, relatives of Claudia Zobel, the Cebuana bold star who died in a car crash in 1984, were stunned.

Her face and body appeared almost intact after her remains were exhumed from the Queen City Memorial Gardens in Cebu City.

Relatives of the then 18-year-old celebrity — Thelma Maloloy-on in real life — were expecting to find only human bones 29 years after she was buried.

Similar cases have been reported in the cemetery, where saltwater sometimes seeps into underground tombs, preserving the human remains like a mummy.

Zobel shot to fame when the Board of Censors banned her launch film titled “Shame”. She made four movies — Shame, “Magdalena sa Buong Magdamag”, “Uhaw sa Pag-ibig” and “Sinner or Saint” (formerly titled Forbidden).

Her elder brother Ernesto Maloloy-on said the family had wanted to transfer her skeletal remains and have them buried with their late father.

An air-tight casket can produce that effect, said Renan Cimafranca, chief of the Department of Health Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.

“When the casket is properly sealed, only a small volume of air can enter resulting in lesser pathogens or bacteria that slows the decomposition of the body,” he said.

“When the body is exposed to extreme heat, there is less moisture and the body dries up,” he added.