Local officials rush to bury the dead in a mass grave as bodies pile up at the Siege of Mariupol, Russia.
Bodies are placed in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine (Photo: AP)
Local authorities are rushing to bury the dead in a mass grave, with 43,000 people under siege in Russia’s southeastern Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol.
City workers made quick cross gestures as they pushed bodies wrapped in carpets or bags into a deep gorge some 25 meters (80 feet) long on the outskirts of the city.
More than 70 bodies have been buried since the common grave was opened on Tuesday.
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An AP journalist who visited the burial ground estimated that about half of the people were killed in the fierce shelling in the city. Others died at home of natural causes, but the authorities were unable to collect the bodies or make arrangements for their burial.
There have been at least 8 major airstrikes in Mariupol in the past 48 hours, including those of a children’s hospital and the central fire department.
City residents are staying in shelters as much as possible as temperatures drop to minus 9 °C (15 °F).
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