Softly patting the bottom, the tearful mourner bids farewell to the deceased — one amongst 1,000 resting in a hastily-made cemetery that was a cotton discipline in southern Turkey.
All he has to establish his beloved one who died in Monday’s huge quake is a concrete slab with a quantity.
“97” is considered one of greater than 24,000 folks killed after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria.
Dozens of sheep graze metres away from the freshly dug graves within the metropolis of Antakya in Hatay province.
The highway resulting in Antakya is blocked by vans carrying extra our bodies because the dying toll mounts with every passing day.
A white van arrives on the discipline. Inside, there are 4 our bodies in black physique baggage. Six males raise every bag, inserting them gently within the newly dug graves.
A person begs them to attend, in tears: “One minute, one minute”, he says, repeating only one identify — “Emine”.
Within a couple of minutes, the our bodies are lined by earth and the concrete slabs spray-painted with the numbers 94, 95, 96 and 97 serving as non permanent tombstones.
More our bodies arrive. Around 600 folks have been laid to relaxation on Friday, among the many greater than 5,000 individuals who died in Hatay, together with Antakya.
Families hug one another tightly close to the graves. A gaggle of ladies weep as volunteers try to console them.
‘Terrible’
In the automobile park close by, vans carrying our bodies battle to seek out parking area.
The autos got here from throughout Turkey — Antalya province within the south, Bursa within the northwest and even Kars within the northeast 14 hours away — to hold the our bodies from Hatay.
The stench of dying is overpowering. A volunteer, in a black coat and blue vest, arms out gloves and surgical masks.
Behind folding tables, round 15 folks carrying masks look forward to family to signal dying certificates for victims who’ve been recognized.
But nearly nobody comes to seek out them.
Close to the tables, an imam is sitting on the bottom. He got here from Usak province, 900 kilometres (560 miles) away from Hatay.
“Some 400 imams from all over Turkey have been sent to Hatay to perform the funeral prayers,” Yusuf Ozcan mentioned.
The scale of the tragedy has been overwhelming. “It’s terrible,” he mentioned, fatigue etched onto his face.
Ozcan can not even say what number of prayers he has carried out.
“A lot,” mentioned the imam, in blue denims and vest.
On the opposite aspect of the highway trying over the makeshift cemetery simply 200 metres (650 toes) away, the Deniz household watch the continuous arrival of vans and excavators.
They can not stay of their house behind them so that they have been sleeping in a white tent arrange 10 metres from the highway.
“The governor and officials came two days to take the land. We thought they had come to set up tents for survivors,” Kemal Deniz, 35, mentioned.
The discipline the place the our bodies lie used to develop cotton and wheat, the mechanic mentioned.
“From now on, we will wake up every morning to this. It’s hard, but we have no other choice,” he added. —Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
