An Italian woman was forced to keep the coffin with the body of her dead mum in her living room for days because all cemeteries in the city are full.
Giusy La Mantia was asked to keep the coffin of her deceased mum at home since there was no more space for new burials at the ‘Santa Maria dei Rotoli’ cemetery in the city of Palermo in the Italian island of Sicily.
According to Giusy her mother has passed away on the 19th February and they immediately notified the funeral home but a problem occurred because the family did not own a private tomb for burial of the deceased.
Immediately after the funeral ceremony the relatives were informed that the body had to be kept in storage at home because there is no more space in the cemetery.
The woman accepted the first request without worries thinking it was just the normal procedure but after more than 12 days with the coffin still in her living room she was desperate.
Giusy said: “We thought it was only a matter of one or two days at most. Just long enough to organize the burial.”
But days passed and no one showed up to collect the coffin.
The woman said: “My family proposed various solutions such as storage at other cemeteries but we were told that it is not possible due to the emergency situation.
“But there is no space anywhere. You are not even allowed to die with dignity in this city.”
The grim reality is that there have been hundreds of coffins waiting in the Palermo cemetery storage due to a lack of graves for months.
Picture shows all of the coffins kept at the cemetery in Palermo in Italy 
Picture shows all of the coffins kept at the cemetery in Palermo in Italy
Two weeks ago the mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, tried to curb the emergency linked to the lack of burials in the city’s cemeteries and signed a new measure for removing older coffins to free some space at the burial grounds.
If coffins were buried 25 years ago or earlier they will be exhumed and the remains will be put in an ossuary, which is a building where skeletal remains are stored, or will be cremated according to the wishes of the families.
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Story By: Tijana Milikj, Sub-Editor: Joana Mihajlovska, Agency: Newsflash
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