The authors of the report estimate that at least 3,500 people have committed sexual abuse and say that the figures are only “the tip of the tip of the iceberg”.

At least 1,259 people working for the Protestant Church of Germany have committed sexual abuse in the last decades and at least 2,225 victims were affected by the abuse according to an independent report published Thursday.

The findings are drawn from an examination of documents and records from regional churches and the Lutherans’ diaconal relief and social welfare organisation, Diakonie.

The authors of the report estimate that the actual number of perpetrators is likely to be much higher, with nearly 3,500 people who have committed sexual abuse, German news agency dpa reported.

Martin Wazlawik from Hannover University, who oversaw the study on sexualised violence in the Protestant Church in Germany, described the disclosed figures as “the tip of the tip of the iceberg.”