Human Body Found In Coal Shipment On Far Southeast Side

Updated 08/29/11 - 2:36 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- In a grisly discovery over the weekend, a man's body was found as a load of coal was emptied in a coal plant on the city's Far Southeast Side.

It happened at the KCBX terminal on the 3200 block of East 100th Street, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Police were notified at 4:12 p.m. that unidentified human remains had been found in a coal car, police News Affairs Officer Darryl Baety said.

The coal car -- filled in Montana on Aug. 18 -- was being emptied into a hopper car – a railroad freight car for loose bulk commodities. The last thing that fell out from the smaller container was a human body, a spokesman for the medical examiner's office said.

Neither the race nor approximate age of the person could be determined, but a medical examiner's office spokeswoman on Monday said the remains are confirmed to be a man.

She said the office was able to use fingerprints for analysis but did not yet have the man's identity as of early Monday afternoon.

An autopsy on Monday was inconclusive, pending police investigation, the medical examiner's office said.

Calumet Area police detectives are conducting a death investigation.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.