Venezuelan cemetery expands burials for earthquake victims, many of whom remain unidentified

By Osmary Hernández, Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, Avery Schmitz, CNN

La Guaira state, Venezuela (CNN) — Editor’s note: Lee este artículo en español

In the mountains of Venezuela’s La Guaira state, workers have excavated new trenches at a cemetery to bury hundreds of people killed in the powerful twin earthquakes nearly two weeks ago, even as many of the bodies being laid to rest remain unidentified.

CNN observed heavy machinery working at La Esperanza cemetery on Monday, while personnel wearing blue protective garments moved coffins into the ground and prepared additional graves for the bodies.

Satellite images from spatial intelligence company Vantor show more than 20 rows of freshly dug trenches, each one large enough to fit multiple caskets side by side.

A cemetery worker told CNN that the cemetery has dug around 500 new burial plots in response to the emergency and reserved an area with about 150 graves for unidentified victims.

Images from Reuters show some burial sites traced with small stones. Based on the size of the trenches and these outlines, hundreds of people could be buried there, according to CNN’s analysis of the photos.

The rows of new graves in La Esperanza reflect the magnitude of last month’s disaster. The earthquakes left at least 3,685 people dead, 16,740 injured and 17,907 displaced, according to latest government figures.

While recovery efforts continue in the affected areas, many families are still waiting for answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones. Tuesday’s tally did not show how many people are still missing.

A place for the unidentified

In the area reserved for unidentified victims at the cemetery, each body receives an individual grave separated by plots and marked with a code to make it easier for families to locate their loved ones in the future, local authorities and community leaders told Reuters.

“They are buried in the designated area so that when the city begins pouring concrete, each mourner can come and identify their loved ones,” Nicolás Rivas, a member of the Chaparral Los Pinos community council, told Reuters.

The graves are arranged on terraces identified with letters and demarcated with white stones to distinguish them from the rest of the cemetery. Elis Zabala, a community leader in the area, told Reuters that this setup will allow families to visit their loved ones and pay their respects.

“These terraces A, B, C, D, F and G have been in use for just a week. We can see that they are well organized, and the deceased are being given the dignified burial they all deserve,” Zabala said.

Several trucks arrived with coffins throughout Monday, according to the cemetery worker who spoke to CNN. They estimated that at least 80 bodies were moved there during those hours.

Police officers were seen by CNN guarding the cemetery entrance and more agents arrived throughout the day as work continued.

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Michael Rios contributed to this report.