More than 200 coffins reportedly fell into the sea when the cliff collapsed near a cemetery off the coast of Italy.
According to Francesco Olivari, the mayor of Camogli, employees at the Camogli cemetery, which was built more than 100 years ago near the coast of Genoa, first noticed along the wall of the cemetery.
‘Some signs of cracks were seen. “We decided to close the cemetery,” Olivari told CNN.
The 200 coffins were sent into the sea when the cliff collapsed on Monday.
Crew recovered ten of the coffins. At least 190 were not taken into account on Tuesday.
According to the local civil protection judge, Giacomo Giampedrone, the remaining coffins will ‘depend on the sea in the coming days’.
As of Monday, Giampedrone said the port authority had blocked the coastal area near the cemetery to prevent coffins from floating to the sea.
“This kind of collapse that took place today is very difficult to detect or predict,” Olivari said. “This area is subject to this type of collapse – it is very fragile.”
The Office of Civil Protection in Liguria was called in to assess the situation and see if there were any potential landslides, as well as to understand the true extent of the damage.
The mayor called the incident an “unimaginable disaster”.