SYRIA-ALEPPO MORGUE Mortuary volunteers document the dead in Aleppo

Record ID: 147523

  • Title: SYRIA-ALEPPO MORGUE Mortuary volunteers document the dead in Aleppo
  • Date: 12th July 2015
  • Summary: ALEPPO, SYRIA (JULY 5, 2015) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) ALEPPO CITADEL AN OLD CEMETERY IN ALEPPO A STREET IN ALEPPO AN EXTERIOR OF THE MAKESHIFT MORGUE MEN CARRYING BODY BAGS DOOR LEADING TO THE COLD ROOM VARIOUS OF BODIES IN BAGS LINED ON THE FLOOR WRITING (Arabic) THAT READS: "Documentation office" VARIOUS OF A MAN, AHMAD AL-KHATIB, WORKING IN THE DOCUMENTATION OFFICE A
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9Q8ZZQE28AAGVD8WZD406F4YE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In the war-ravaged city of Aleppo, a group of volunteers are trying to cope with the rising death toll.
    The volunteers have set up a mortuary in a rebel-controlled area in the city near to the historic citadel.
    The increase in violence in the city has meant that volunteers like Ahmed Al-Khatib are left with the task of issuing death certificates and locating the families of the deceased.
    "The work of the forensic team in liberated Aleppo is about documenting bodies that we receive from the shelled areas. We prepare a description with special signs and clothes and the location of death. When relatives come we hand over the body with belongings. We also hand them the death certificate. Sometimes we receive bags with body parts that are difficult to identify. We find this very difficult," said Al-Khatib.
    The bodies are held at the mortuary for a day or two, according to Mahmoud Ali who receives the bodies.
    "My role at work is receiving the body and sending it to the documentation unit and I help with documentation. If there are relatives, they receive the body, if not, I take it to the burial," Ali said.
    The make-shift morgue has a small cemetery home to dozens of graves.
    "Inside the morgue, we receive bodies of people killed because of barrel bombs, rockets. The bodies that stay with us a day or two, we are forced to bury in this Islamic cemetery. We have approximately 200-250 graves until now. The unidentified bodies we receive, we are forced to bury and just document them with writing and pictures until a relative shows up and identifies them," said cemetery worker Abo Shahood.
    It's up to volunteers like Abo Shahood to write the name of the deceased on the grave stone, and if known the date of death is also written underneath. But in this war shattered city many of the graves only read 'anonymous man' or 'anonymous woman'.
    Large civilian death tolls are frequently reported as a result of Syrian army aerial bombardment of rebel-held parts of the north-western city.
    The army and rebels have been in a long battle for Aleppo, which was Syria's economic and industrial hub before rebels took over parts of it in July 2012.
    The conflict in Syria has killed more than 220,000 people and driven millions from their homes since 2011. On Thursday, the U.N refugee agency UNHCR said the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries has passed 4 million, adding that the total was on course to reach 4.27 million by the end of 2015.
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