A white cotton field turned into cemetery, black with grief
Antakya – Softly patting the ground, the tearful mourner bids farewell to the deceased – one among 1 000 resting in a hastily-made cemetery that used to be a cotton field in southern Türkiye.
All he has to identify his loved one who died in Monday’s massive quake by is a concrete slab with a number.
The “97” is one of more than 33 000 people killed after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Türkiye and Syria.
Dozens of sheep graze metres away from the freshly dug graves in the city of Antakya in Hatay province.
The road leading to Antakya is blocked by vans carrying more bodies as the death toll mounts with each passing day.
A white van arrives at the field. Inside, there are four bodies in black body bags. Six men lift each bag, placing them gently in the newly dug graves.
A man begs them to wait, in tears: “One minute, one minute”, he says, repeating just one name – Emine.
Within a few minutes, the bodies are covered by earth and the concrete slabs spray-painted with the numbers 94, 95, 96 and 97 serving as temporary tombstones.
More bodies arrive. Around 600 people were laid to rest on Friday, among the more than 5 000 people who died in Hatay, including Antakya.
Families hug each other tightly near the graves. A group of women weep as volunteers try and console them.
In the car park nearby, vans carrying bodies struggle to find parking space.
The vehicles came from all over Türkiye – Antalya province in the south, Bursa in the northwest and even Kars in the northeast 14 hours away.
The stench of death is overpowering. A volunteer, in a black coat and blue vest, hands out gloves and surgical masks.
Behind folding tables, around 15 people wearing masks wait for relatives to sign death certificates for victims who have been identified.
“The scale of the tragedy has been overwhelming,” said imam Yusuf Ozcan –