Guadalajara, Mexico
Mobile morgue: A wave of violence around Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, has overwhelmed local morgues, forcing authorities to house more than 100 decomposing corpses in a refrigerated container truck. Mexican law forbids the cremation of unclaimed victims of violent crime, and the city had run out of burial plots, so the truck was procured as a stopgap. Authorities insisted the truck was properly refrigerated, but after locals complained of a vile odor and flies, the trailer was moved to a less populated location. “This affects our kids, it smells horrible, and the longer it stays it’s going to stink even worse,” said Patricia Jiménez. A larger morgue that can hold 700 bodies is scheduled to open soon. Mexico had its most violent year in 2017, with more than 31,000 murders, most of them attributed to organized crime.