Fury as Diego Maradona funeral workers take photos next to open coffin

Three funeral workers have sparked outrage after taking photos beside Diego Maradona's open coffin.

Diego Maradona was buried Thursday in a private ceremony attended by only two dozen people — a stark contrast to earlier in the day when tens of thousands of weeping fans filed past his coffin for hours in an observance that mixed head-of-state-like honours with the chaos of a rowdy stadium.

Only family members and close friends were permitted at Jardin Bella Vista cemetery for the final religious ceremony and burial of Maradona next to the graves of his parents, Dalma and Diego.

Prior to the ceremony, Sepelios Pinier funeral parlour - which has arranged the funeral of several members of the Maradona family - hired three men to help prepare the football star's coffin .

Photos then surfaced online of the three men posing next to the open casket with their thumbs up.

The manager of the funeral home, Matías Picón, told the TN news channel: "We are devastated."

"The family trusted us, we have been working with them for a long time."

He added: "My father is 75 years old and he is crying, I am crying, my brother too, we are destroyed."

However, local news reported that the men will not face prosecution for taking the photos, as no crime had been committed.

Maradona died Wednesday of a heart attack in a house outside Buenos Aires where he had been recovering from a brain operation.

His coffin was draped with the Argentina flag and shirts bearing his famed No. 10 from the national team and the Boca Juniors club, with other jerseys tossed around it by passing admirers.

President Alberto Fernandez appeared at midday and placed on the casket a jersey from the Argentinos Juniors team, where Maradona started his career in 1976.

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