DEAD BODIES OUT OF GRAVES

Decomposing bodies at the “Mile Eleven” cemetery located off the Kasoa-Winneba road have been left exposed after the top soil was washed away following Monday morning's downpour.

A foul scent of decomposing flesh pervades the area.

Parts of the bodies lay in various postures, the most conspicuous being a protruding leg pointing upwards.

It was clear that attempts to re-bury the exposed corpses were not successful as the bodies were only partly covered.

The Times gathered that a portion of the cemetery is reserved for mass burials of unclaimed bodies and victims of dangerous disease.

 A grave digger told the Times that the latest mass burial took place only last Saturday.  

He said that the graves were not deep enough to cover the three batches of dead bodies that were buried in the same grave.

 “Before the latest batch which came from the Ridge Hospital last Saturday, we had mass burials of corpses from the 37 Military Hospital and Korle-bu  Teaching ”, he said.

He said he has been working at the cemetery, since 1990 but this has been a rare occurrence.

“The difference this time is that we buried three batches of corpses in the same grave and the rain was so heavy that the erosion exposed the bodies,” he said.

Some residents the Times spoke to expressed disgust at the situation and condemned the whole practice of mass burials there.

George Antwi, a 21 year-old resident threatened that the youth of the area would organize a protest march to stop the practice which has resulted in the entire neighbourhood being always engulfed in stench.

Another resident, Mame Yaa said, who like a member of neighbours, has her worsens close to the cemetery said she had warned her children not to go near the cemetery to avoid breathing in the foul smell.