MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maradona buried without his heart, TV anchorman says

Maradona had a privileged body, Doctor Castro explained

Argentine neurologist and TV host Nelson Castro has said former football legend Diego Armando Maradona has been buried but his heart was not in his coffin.

Castro made those remarks during a TV show as the first anniversary of Maradona's death (Nov. 25) nears. The former footballer had died aged 60 of a cardiorespiratory arrest days after undergoing brain surgery.

While the physicians responsible for Maradona's health are being prosecuted for their alleged malfeasances which resulted in the untimely death of the megastar, Castro is releasing a book revealing medical data on the player's health, in which he says Maradona has been buried without his heart.

According to Castro, the organ was removed from the body for further studying because it has tremendous medical value “in determining the cause” of death, Castro explained. The newscaster also explained plans by a group of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata hooligans to steal Maradona's heart from his grave have been thwarted by the procedure.

“It was detected that this was going to happen, so his heart was also removed to study it because it was very important in determining the cause of Maradona's death. The information is that he is buried without a heart,” Castro added.

The physician also explained that Maradona's heart “weighed half a kilo, when a normal heart weighs 300 grams.” Maradona had an oversize “heart due to other things such as his heart failure and the heart disease he had.”

Castro made those statements on a TV show where he attended as a guest.

In his new book, Castro discloses scientific information about Maradona's health: “He had a privileged body in terms of resistance, as the doctor of his dilated heart disease said, other people would have died off. The problem is that he never wanted to make a sustained recovery.”

Castro also wrote a book about the health of Popes.