Daddy, why is there a dead body on the beach? Italian sunseekers ignore CORPSE lying in the surf and continue having fun just yards away

Russian 78-year-old woman died on Monday on the beach at Formia, Italy

Body was covered with a sheet and tourists continued to enjoy themselves

At first glance these photos seem like any other happy beach scene. Sunbathers bask in the heat, while a young boy plays paddleball with a friend.

But just yards from the swimmers enjoying the sunshine the body of an elderly tourist lies dead on the sand.



The lifeless cadaver of the 78-year-old Russian woman lying near the waves is treated with total indifference.



Left on the sand: The body of the woman is ignored as a child paddles and a man plays bat and ball

A white sheet shields her skin and face from the public, but even those who have a good view of the body barely bat an eyelid.



The alert was raised when two women noticed the woman’s collapsed body in the shallow water on Monday, Italian news agency ANSA said.

But after the initial shock the cheerful beachgoers paid no attention to the tragic scene, apparently unmoved by the grisly sight at Formia, half way between Rome and Naples.



In August 2011 Italy was left shocked after the body of a 67-year-old, who died on a beach towel under an umbrella, lay undiscovered for three hours, surrounded by beach-goers, on a beach near Ostia .

The body remained on the beach while tourists nearby joked and sunbathed.

Two women sounded the alarm when they noticed the body of the woman in the surf. But the swimmers and sunbathers didn't let it prevent them from having fun

And in 2008 photographs emerged of beach-goers happily sunbathing near the dead bodies of two gypsy girls on a beach in Naples.

The victims - aged 14 and 16 - had reportedly been with two other young girls begging from tourists on the beach, and then went into the water despite none of them apparently knowing how to swim.

They soon got into trouble because of strong currently and were hit by a large wave, witnesses said. Two of the girls were rescued by the lifesavers, but the other two could not be saved in time.