A woman and her two children lived with the corpses of her husband and a third child for two years in Indonesia's West Java province, local media reported on Wednesday.

The discovery was made when a health worker came to the family's house in Cimahi district on Tuesday to check on the husband, who had not been seen for more than two years, Detik.com news portal reported.

‘[The widow] explained that they did not bury them because she had received a revelation from God through an angel that they would return to life,’ local police chief AKP Sutarman was quoted as saying.

The family initially refused to open the front door, but relented when the worker returned with a soldier and local officials, the news portal said.

Inside, authorities found two skeletal bodies, covered in blankets.

The remains belonged to a 84-year-old man and his daughter, 50. They were believed to have died of illness in January and December 2016, respectively, local police said.

Neighbours said they had smelled the stench for two years but the family had never allowed them to enter the house, the reports said.

Sutarman said autopsies were not conducted because there were no signs that they were the victims of violence. The woman and her two children would undergo psychiatric examinations, police said.

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