The finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state found dead on railway tracks near Frankfurt on Sunday. Authorities said he seems to have killed himself and was in despair over the aftermath of the coronavirus emergency.

According to the Associated Press, 54-year-old Thomas Schaefer, former finance minister of German region of Hesse, committed suicide. The state governed suggested links to COVID-19 pandemic.

Schaefer, member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, was found Saturday on railway tracks at Hochheim, near Frankfurt. The officials said that factors including the questioning of witnesses at the scene led them to conclude that Schaefer killed himself.

Volker Bouffier, the state governor, linked Schaefer’s death to the virus crisis on Sunday. Bouffiersaid Schaefer was concerned about “to succeed in fulfilling the population’s huge expectations, particularly of financial help. I have to assume that these worries overwhelmed him, and he apparently couldn’t find a way out. It’s precise during this challenging time that we would have needed someone like him,” he added.

Major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters in Hesse. To boost the economy during the downturn caused by COVID-19, Germany has reportedly drawn up large aid packages. The country has reported 480 deaths and more than 60,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak.

The German chancellor went into quarantine seven days ago after a doctor who gave her a vaccine tested positive for the virus. While trying to slow the spread of the flare-up, the nation has prohibited open gatherings of multiple individuals and forced tight fringe limitations.