DAILY MAIL:
- Hart Island off the Bronx’s shore in NYC is being eyed to temporarily bury the coronavirus dead
- Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Monday: ‘We may well be dealing with temporary burials so we can then deal with each family later – he added: ‘Obviously, the place we have used historically is Hart Island’
- But drone footage from Thursday shows that coronavirus burials may have already been carried out on Hart Island as inmates are seen digging graves in hazmat suits
- One former Rikers Island inmate who worked there said no one wants the ‘ghoulish’, low-paid job
- He fears there are not enough inmates to do the job now because 1,000 have already been released
- Undertakers have become so overwhelmed a city official suggested doing temporary burials in a public park
Drone footage shows inmates in hazmat suits digging graves on NYC’s Hart Island suggesting that coronavirus victims could already be being temporarily buried there, as morgues across the city continue to overflow and the death toll ticks up.
Drone footage taken on Thursday – which is the day bodies are buried there every week – by The Hart Island Project shows inmates in hazmat suits digging graves on the island, possibly for victims of the virus which has claimed more than 3,400 lives across New York City and sickened more than 72,000. Ordinarily prisoners are seen digging in their prison uniforms.
Mayor Bill de Blasio did not confirm whether burials for coronavirus victims had been or would take place there but told reporters Monday: ‘We may well be dealing with temporary burials so we can then deal with each family later.
‘Obviously, the place we have used historically is Hart Island.’
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