NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Several unclaimed bodies from the Princess Margaret Hospital morgue were buried in mass graves last week.
A video of multiple wooden coffins being lowered into holes and stacked on top of one another went viral on social media over the weekend.
Rev Canon Sebastian Campbell, hospital chaplain, confirmed to Eyewitness News yesterday that a ceremony was conducted on Friday.
Campbell did not confirm the number of people who were buried.
“These persons would have had Christian burials, so they were not just dumped in the ground, that didn’t happen,” Campbell said.
He noted that the practice of burying unclaimed “paupers” in mass graves has been longstanding.
“This is nothing new,” Campbell continued.
“…These are persons who you bury them because no one claimed their bodies. No family members claimed the bodies and so the government is responsible for burying them.”
In April 2018, then Health Minister Dr Duane Sands told Eyewitness News that some 166 bodies were being held at the morgue, nearly three times its intended capacity.
Sands indicated that the morgue has a capacity for just 60 bodies.
At the time, officials were seeking to increase and enforce storage fees in order to encourage undertakers to retrieve the bodies from the morgue.
