‘Decomposed bodies need to be buried quickly’

THE bodies of nine refugees washed up in the Karpaz nearly two weeks ago are too badly decomposed to be visually identified and need to be buried quickly because of the stench spreading from the morgue at Lefkoşa State Hospital.

Chief doctor Bülent Dizdarlı said on Thursday hospital authorities were seeking the speeding up of legal procedures to allow their burial without further delay.

He said the proper course of action now would be to take tissue samples for DNA testing to allow for identification in future.

Dr Dizdarlı yesterday denied reports that the morgue’s refrigeration system was broken, and claimed the problem was down to the corpses having been “placed inside coffins in a wrong manner”.

The bodies of the nine men, believed to be Syrian refugees, were found on Karpaz beaches over a four-day period last week. They were suspected to have been aboard a boat which capsized en route to the TRNC from Mersin.