Venezuela, La Guaira state —
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Workers dug a new trench in a cemetery in the mountains of Venezuela’s La Guaira state to bury hundreds of people who died in powerful twin earthquakes nearly two weeks ago, although many of the bodies remain unidentified.
CNN watched as heavy equipment was at work at the La Esperanza cemetery on Monday, as workers in blue hazmat suits moved coffins into the ground and prepared additional graves for the bodies.
Satellite images from spatial intelligence firm Vantaa show more than 20 rows of newly dug trenches, each large enough to hold multiple coffins side by side.
Cemetery officials told CNN that the cemetery had dug about 500 new burial sites in response to the emergency and set aside an area with about 150 graves for unidentified victims.
Reuters images show several burial sites marked by small stones. Judging from the size and contours of the trench, hundreds of people may have been buried there, according to a CNN analysis of the photos.
The new graves lining La Esperanza reflect the scale of last month’s disaster. The quake killed at least 3,535 people, injured 16,740 and displaced 17,854, according to the latest government figures.
As recovery efforts continue in the affected areas, many families are still waiting for answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones. Monday’s tally did not yet indicate how many people are missing.
Local authorities and community leaders said in the cemetery’s dedicated area for unidentified victims, each body was given a separate grave marked with a separate plot and a code to help families find their loved ones in the future.
“When the city starts pouring the concrete, we will bury them in designated areas so that mourners can come and identify their loved ones,” Nicolás Rivas, a member of the Chaparral Los Pinos Regional Council, told Reuters.
Workers bury unidentified victims of the Venezuelan earthquake.
Video shows dozens of coffins lined up at a cemetery in northern Venezuela on Monday as workers bury victims of two strong earthquakes that hit the country in June. Many of the bodies pulled from the rubble have not yet been identified, local media reported.
The graves are identified with letters and placed on terraces separated by white stones to distinguish them from the rest of the cemetery. Elise Zabala, a community leader in the area, told Reuters the arrangement would allow families to visit and pay their respects to their loved ones.
“These terraces A, B, C, D, F and G have only been in use for a week. We can see that they are well organized and the deceased received the dignified burial that they all deserve,” Zabala said.
Several trucks loaded with coffins arrived throughout Monday, according to cemetery officials who spoke to CNN. They estimated that at least 80 bodies were moved there during that time.
CNN saw police officers guarding the entrance to the cemetery, and work continued, with more arriving throughout the day.
