According to a new report, French authorities have launched an investigation after human bodies that were donated in the name of science were found left to rot and eaten by rots.

The incident reportedly happened at a Paris University research center.

The probe was launched after L’Express, a French newspaper, published a report in November last year and detailed how thousands of bodies were found in vile conditions at the Centre for Body Donations of Paris Descartes University.

The newspaper said naked corpses were dismembered and haphazardly stacked on top of another or discharged in overflowing garbage bags.

According to The Guardian, some of the bodies were already decomposing and others were being consumed by rats.

The report also stated that a severed head was also found on the floor.

The discovery caused the French government to shut down the center while prosecutors launched an official investigation.

However, this week, prosecutors handed over the “violations of the integrity of a corpse” investigation to French magistrates.

Fredereic Douchez, a lawyer for the families, said that the news is very good.

He added that magistrates have much wider powers to get to the bottom of what happened.

Paris Descartes University opened in 1953.

The research center receives hundreds of donated bodies each year.

Nearly 80 official complaints have been filed against the center.