LESBOS, Greece (AP) — Most drowned making the hazardous sea crossing from close by Turkey, whereas others died of pure causes in migrant camps on the Greek island of Lesbos.
After years of neglect, a makeshift burial floor for migrants on the island has been cleaned up and landscaped to offer a dignified resting place for the useless, and for his or her relations to go to.
Earth Medication, the Lesbos-based charity that dealt with the undertaking close to the village of Kato Tritos, formally handed over the redesigned cemetery to municipal officers on Wednesday.
“We wished it to be clear that this was a burial floor, (largely) for individuals who died at sea — a few of whom have been recognized whereas others haven’t,” Earth Medication spokesman Dimitris Patounis stated. “It was once only a area.”
For years, Lesbos has been a serious vacation spot for folks in search of a greater life within the European Union. They go away Turkish shores crammed into small, unseaworthy vessels offered by smuggling gangs. About 3,800 folks have made the journey thus far this yr.
Earlier than the intervention, the weed-choked graves have been marked by a easy stone with a quantity written on it by marker, or, within the uncommon circumstances when it was obtainable, a reputation. At the moment, about 200 neat, uniform grey slabs crammed with white gravel cowl every grave, clearly itemizing no matter is thought of the occupant.
“Now folks will be capable to go to when their (useless) relations are recognized,” Patounis stated.
Officers stress that the burial floor is nondenominational, with latest inhumation companies performed by an Imam, a Greek Orthodox or a Catholic priest, in accordance with the deceased’s identified beliefs.
“This was carried out with human dignity in thoughts, with none non secular affiliation,” Patounis stated.
The cemetery lies a few kilometer (1/2 mile) outdoors Kato Tritos in central Lesbos, round 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the island capital of Mytilini. Different migrants have been buried previously in municipal cemeteries in different elements of the island, however that is the one burial floor particularly for migrants.
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