Aden: 56 unidentified bodies buried amid worsening electricity crisis

The Public Prosecution announced the burial of 56 unidentified bodies that were kept in the central refrigerator of the forensic medicine department at the Republic Hospital in Aden, amid the worsening electricity crisis in the city declared the temporary capital of the country.

The Public Prosecution's media explained in a statement on Monday that the burial process was carried out under the directives of the Attorney General, Judge Qaher Mustafa Ali, and the Minister of Justice, Judge Badr Al-Arda, and in cooperation with the International Red Cross.

He stated that the burial process took place in two stages; the first after the dawn prayer and included 34 bodies, while the second batch was buried at 2:00 pm and included 22 bodies. The process took place in the Abu Harbah Cemetery in the Al-Haswa area, Al-Buraiqah District, Aden Governorate.

Judge Saleh Bashafei, Director General of the National Center for Forensic Medicine, explained that this measure was taken to reduce the overcrowding of bodies in the Republic Hospital, especially in light of the repeated power outages.

Bashafei added that after the Public Prosecution completed the legal procedures, direct coordination was made with the Red Cross, where the burial process was carried out in accordance with international standards, including documenting all data related to the bodies, identifying them with numbers on their wrists, and writing the data on the tombstones, while keeping electronic and paper records for the possibility of referring to them when the relatives of the deceased appear.

The statement referred to a similar burial process that took place in Lahj Governorate last week, which included 15 unidentified bodies under the supervision of the Public Prosecution and the National Center for Forensic Medicine.