Remains of dead bodies being removed from graves in Brazil

Brazil's biggest metropolis has an unorthodox plan to free up space at its graveyards during the coronavris pandemic: digging up the bones of people buried in the past and storing their bagged remains in large metal containers.

Sao Paulo's municipal funeral service said in a statement Friday that the remains of people who died at least three years ago will be exhumed and put in numbered bags, then stored temporarily in 12 storage containers it has purchased.

The containers will be delivered to several cemeteries within 15 days, the statement said.

At Sao Paulo's biggest cemetery, Vila Formosa, Adenilson Costa was among workers in blue protective suits digging up old graves Friday.

He said their work has only grown more arduous during the pandemic, and as he removed bones from unearthed coffins, he said he fears what is to come.

"With this opening of malls and stores we get even more worried. We are not in the curve; we are in the peak and people aren't aware," Costa said.

"This isn't over. Now is the worrisome moment. And there are still people out."

In April, gravediggers at Vila Formosa buried 1,654 people, up more than 500 from the previous month.

Numbers for May and June aren't yet available.

Before the pandemic, Costa said, he and colleagues would exhume remains of about 40 coffins per day if families stopped paying required fees for the plots.

In recent weeks that figure has more than doubled.

Remains stored in the metal containers will eventually be moved to a public ossuary, according to the statement from the city's funeral office.

Sao Paulo is one of the COVID-19 hot spots in Latin America's hardest-hit nation, with 5,480 deaths as of Thursday in the city of 12 million people.

The virus has so far killed almost 42,000 Brazilians, and Brazil passed the United Kingdom on Friday to become the country with the world's second highest death toll.

Source: Agencies

 

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