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COVID-19 Complicates Repatriation of Moroccan Bodies from Belgium
Monday 13 April 2020, by
The president of the intercommunal, Hicham Chakir, denied the allegations of a Brussels resident that the multi-denominational cemetery of Schaerbeek would need volunteers, equipment and shovels. The only difficulty of this place where Muslims and others rest is related to the repatriation of the bodies of Moroccans who died from the effects of covid-19.
"I can assure you that today we have all the necessary equipment. The mayor of Saint-Josse provided us with masks and hydroalcoholic gel. The mayor of Koekelberg provided us with visors. Independently of this, we already had masks, gloves and hydroalcoholic gel. We have our own equipment, shovels, excavators," assures the president of the multi-denominational cemetery of Schaerbeek.
According to Hicham Chakir, ten bodies per day, or no less than fifty per week, against fifteen per week normally, are buried in the said cemetery. Faced with this situation, he says he has found a solution with the mayor of Schaerbeek to authorize his staff to also work on Saturdays.
"We have three gravediggers to whom I have added four or five volunteers to help them. We normally have many more volunteers in normal times; but, during this pandemic, I preferred to limit the number to four or five maximum to be able to respect confinement and social distancing," he explains to La Meuse.
"The only problem I have encountered so far is that there are some families who only want a provisional burial to be able to exhume the body after the crisis in order to repatriate it to Morocco," says Hicham Chakir. "I sent an official letter on Tuesday to the ambassador as well as to the Muslim executive to find out if Morocco was ready to receive these bodies of covid-19 victims after the crisis. I think the answer will be negative; but I sent this official letter to be able to have an official answer".