Turkey prepares massive burial site for victims

(11 Feb 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Turkey, Antakya - 11 February 2023 1. Various of machinery digging graves in massive grave site 2. Various of hearses carrying victims of the earthquake arriving STORYLINE: A large makeshift graveyard was under construction on the outskirts of Antakya on Saturday, the final resting place for hundreds of people who perished in a catastrophic earthquake on Monday. Backhoes and bulldozers dug pits in a field on the northeastern edge of the city as trucks and ambulances loaded with black body bags arrived continuously. Soldiers directing traffic on the busy adjacent road warned motorists not to take photographs. The hundreds of graves, spaced no more than three feet (one meter) apart, were marked with simple wooden planks set vertically in the ground. A worker with Turkey’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, who did not wish to be identified because of orders not to share information with the media, said that around 800 bodies were brought to the cemetery on Friday, its first day of operation. By midday on Saturday, he said, as many as 2,000 bodies had been buried. AP Video by Lefteris Pitarakis =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected]. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...