A video showing the moment of the collapse of Camogli cemetery in Italy’s Liguria region has been going viral, prompting some panicked vibes across the net after the tragedy was caught on camera by local workers.
The graveyard, located on the edge of a cliff, tumbled into water on Monday, following a landslide.
An estimated 200 coffins have fallen into the Mediterranean Sea as a result of this "unimaginable catastrophe”, as Camogli mayor Francesco Olivari has put it.
Il video del crollo del cimitero di #Camogli in #Liguria. Oltre 200 bare in mare. Sospese le operazioni di recupero per il buio. Riprenderanno domani pic.twitter.com/SAJX22THc5
— Luca Ponzi (@luponzi) February 22, 2021
Many have sent their deepest regrets to the relatives of the deceased ones whose bodies have not been recovered yet.
Omg how sad for the families 😢
— cat marrone (@dolcecbabe) February 24, 2021
Search operations are currently underway in Camogli, where scuba divers and marine specialists from Italy’s Central Emergency Department are trying to find and recover coffins that dropped into the sea following the collapse
Only 12 coffins have been retrieved from the sea as of Wednesday, officials said, but many more have remained scattered across and buried under the wreckage from the slide. The coastal area below the cemetery has been cordoned off on Monday night to prevent the caskets from floating further.
Divers have been scanning the seabed with “sonar devices and underwater drones” in search of buried bodies, the Central Emergency Department said on Twitter, sharing photos and videos from the site:
#Camogli, frana cimitero: specialisti sommozzatori e nautici dei #vigilidelfuoco in azione nell’area antistante la falesia crollata per scandagliare i fondali marini con dispostitivi sonar e droni subacquei alla ricerca dei feretri finiti in mare tre giorni fa #25febbraio pic.twitter.com/XqXBHZJ8wC
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) February 25, 2021
#Camogli (GE), frana cimitero: prosegue da parte di specialisti #sommozzatori e nautici dei #vigilidelfuoco la ricerca e il recupero delle centinaia di bare finite in mare lunedì pomeriggio. Droni in volo per monitorare le operazioni delle squadre e l’area del crollo #24febbraio pic.twitter.com/cRFxHw0KJe
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) February 24, 2021
Frana cimitero a #Camogli (GE), è ripresa in mattinata la ricerca e il recupero delle bare finite ieri in mare: #vigilidelfuoco impegnati nelle delicate operazioni con il nucleo #sommozzatori, gli specialisti nautici, il reparto volo e i dronisti #23febbraio pic.twitter.com/UfOOiy4YB0
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) February 23, 2021
The Camogli cemetery is over 100 years old. The cliff, where it is located, has been weakened by heavy storms in the last couple of years, prompting erosion and the Monday landslide, Italy’s National Council of Geologists suggests.
Mayor Olivari says that tragedy like that is “very hard to detect or to predict”:
"This area is subject to this type of collapse – it 's very fragile,” Olivari told CNN.
Wow 😲
— KUTV2news (@KUTV2News) February 25, 2021
A cemetery in Camogli, Italy fell down a cliff after a collapse. Recovery efforts are underway.
For more world news visit: https://t.co/m5o8EQhuvF pic.twitter.com/8uxuGv3z2f
According to the mayor, workers noticed some “signs of fissures” in the area on Saturday as maintenance work has been carried out along the coast. They immediately stopped the work and shut down the cemetery.
As the search operation still continues, civil protection officials say that the recovery of the bodies “will depend on the sea in the coming days.”
