El Salvador: Another Cemetery Collapses Due to Covid-19 Burials

By teleSUR

18 July 20

In early July, the Ilopango cemetery faced the same situation.

l Salvador's Quezaltepeque mayor Salvador Saget Friday reported that the municipal cemetery collapsed after an increase in burials due to COVID-19 deaths.

"We reached the total collapse of our municipal cemetery," Saget briefed local news media.

Quezaltepeque cemetery was built in 1925. In March, local authorities alerted about a collapse risk, as new pandemic deaths were more frequent. The graveyard administrator also warned entombment space is only vacant in burial plots.

Municipality health authorities registered 84 COVID-19 cases and 40 virus-suspected deaths. On July 23, people had been buried. In early July, the Ilopango cemetery faced the same situation.

"We had a mass grave. We can't be pulling out the bodies because otherwise, I'll fall into crime. We, as the mayor's office, have been the ones who have respected the guidelines of the Central Government. The least we can expect is that they will speed up the process for us, we are in the middle of a pandemic and usual bureaucracy it is not viable," Saget added.

On June 19, the Mayor's Office requested Environment and Natural Resources Ministry's approval for cemetery reformation, but despite the urgency, they have not received a response.

As of Friday, El Salvador health authorities reported 11,207 COVID-19 cases, 309 deaths, and 6,422 recoveries from the virus.