Nearly 400 corpses found piled on top of each other inside crematorium

Nearly 400 decomposing bodies have been found piled on top of each other on the floor of a private crematorium in Mexico.

Instead of being disposed of in line with their families’ wishes, corpses were instead ‘stacked’ in random rooms throughout in the building housing the crematorium in Ciudad Juarez, close to the US border at El Paso.

Eloy Garcia, communications coordinator of the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office, said the bodies had mostly been ‘just thrown like that, indiscriminately, one on top of the other, on the floor’.

Some are believed to have been dead for up to four years. All were embalmed as they would typically be for a funeral, but it is unclear why they didn’t take place.

Cesar Jauregui Moreno, attorney general in the state of Chihuahua described the horrendous scene inside as ‘Dantesque’, invoking the writings of the Italian writer who described a journey through hell.

So far, some 383 bodies have been recovered from the facility which ‘were deposited irregularly in the crematorium, which were not cremated’, Mr Garcia told AFP.

Of those, 218 were men, 149 women and 16 whose gender has not yet been determined. The bodies of four children, including two newborns, were recovered from the piles.

Authorities have been able to identify 15 by name, while four more were identified through tattoos or amputations.

He said the deceased’s next of kin were given ‘other material’ instead of their loved one’s ashes.

Gloria Criollo, 54, was among the relatives of 89 families who went to the state prosecutors office to ask about the bodies found.

She told the El Paso Times: ‘I’m already thinking about what they gave us, because they gave us ashes.

‘The emotional distress experienced by the family, the perception of inadequate treatment, is deeply concerning. We are in a state of uncertainty.’

Mr Garcia suggested the grim discovery was a product of incompetence on the part of the owners, rather than malice.

He said they appear to have underestimated their ‘daily cremation capacity’, adding: ‘You can’t take in more than you can process.’

Prosecutors are reportedly considering charges of mistreatment of corpses and potential fraud for denial of services.

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