Ondo conducts mass burial for 496 unclaimed corpses

The Ondo State Government on Tuesday, said it had disposed some unclaimed corpses at the mortuaries of the University of Medical Science Teaching Hospital in Ondo and Akure.

The government said about 496 corpses at the mortuaries were affected and they had been given mass burial.

The Special Adviser to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Health, Dr Francis Faduyile, disclosed the development in a statement issued by the Press Officer of the state Ministry of Health, Bisi Lawani.

Faduyile explained that the government took the action after he and some other government officials recently embarked on an assessment tour of the morgues in the two health facilities and observed with dismay their gory state, saying the facilities were jam-packed with unclaimed bodies for over a year .

The special adviser further stated that after the tour, he informed the governor, through a memo, on the need to decongest and rehabilitate the morgues, which he said had literally turned to an eye-sore.

He noted that the approved the memo and due process was followed in carrying out the exercise.

Faduyile said, “Mr. Governor did not hesitate to approve the memo to carry out the proposed mass burial activities, so as to avoid an imminent outbreak of epidemic diseases in the state.”

“In all (the morgues), 87 bodies were identified/known with their name tags while 409 were unknown and a total of 496 bodies underwent mass burial.

“The 21-day ultimatum as publicised on prints and electronic media commenced on the 1st of August and lapsed on the 21st of August, 2022. Thereafter, preparations for the mass burial commenced.

“On Friday, September 2nd, 2022, the mass burial was carried out, with the protection of security operative.

“The bodies were buried in a deep grave of 10 by 10 feet wide, and 18 feet depth, at the allocated land by the state government”.