The family of two Hungarian twin sisters who died in the River Dee in Aberdeen had their remains taken back to Hungary in a backpack, their brother has revealed.
Henrietta and Eliza Huszti, both 32, disappeared on January 7 last year before their bodies were found in the waterway on January 31 near where they were last spotted.
The sisters were last seen on CCTV making their way across the Victoria Bridge before turning onto a path along the River Dee.
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Specialist teams including divers and police dogs scoured the river, the harbour and nearby coastline for more than three weeks before they were found.
In an emotional interview with Hungarian media outlet Bors, their brother József Huszti admitted the family ‘still can’t process’ the tragedy.
He said: ‘We went to their flat, where their clothes and belongings were still there. We had to arrange the cremation because we didn’t have enough money to bring them home in coffins.’
Mr Huszti revealed that the cost of repatriating the sisters’ bodies home to Hungary would have been around £45,000.
As the family were unable to afford this, they instead carried the sisters’ urns in their backpacks back home, the Daily Record reports.
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Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both aged 32, disappeared on January 7 last year before their bodies were found in the River Dee on January 31 near where they were last spotted in Aberdeen
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The police recovery operation on the River Dee, near to the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, in Aberdeen after the sisters vanished
He added: ‘We still can’t process it. This is a very difficult time for us, all the family members have been commemorating, we have lit candles and put up their photos.
‘This is the first anniversary, which is very painful.’
The two sisters were laid to rest in June in their hometown of Monor, Hungary, as the family continues to demand answers about their disappearance
Mr Huszti added: ‘We still can’t believe that my sisters committed suicide. We can’t accept what the police said, it would be nice to finally know the truth.’
The sisters’ father Miklòs previously told Hungarian news site SZON that he was ‘sure’ his daughters did not take their own lives and suggested that ‘someone lured them to the waterfront and cruelly killed them’.
‘I have no idea what happened to my daughters, but I am sure they did not commit suicide,’ the 63-year-old told Hungarian reporters.
‘I believe that they did not send the SMS to their landlord, but someone else or others who cheated and kidnapped my children.’
He added: ‘I am sure that someone lured them to the waterfront and cruelly killed them.’
Henrietta and Eliza had lived in the UK – mainly in Aberdeen – for around 10 years and were both employed. One of them worked in a café and the other as a hotel cleaner.
They were in regular contact with their family in Hungary and are not thought to have once indicated anything was wrong.
The girls – who were two out of a set of triplets – grew up in Tornyospálca, a few miles from where their father now lives, but after their parent’s divorce, they moved to Budapest with their mother and brother.
Police Scotland has said the investigation into the sisters’ deaths has concluded, with no suspicious circumstances identified, and a report submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
