For Relatives Of Guatemala Volcano Victims, An Agonizing Wait

At an improvised morgue in the Guatemalan town of Escuintla, dozens of people stand around in an anguished daze, clutching photos of their loved ones, hoping to recover their bodies for burial.

Escuintla, Guatemala, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jun, 2018 ) :At an improvised morgue in the Guatemalan town of Escuintla, dozens of people stand around in an anguished daze, clutching photos of their loved ones, hoping to recover their bodies for burial.

This small town, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Guatemala City, was nearly wiped off the map last Sunday by the violent eruption of the Fuego volcano and the crushing avalanches of earth, ash and glowing lava that followed.

The eruption claimed at least 110 lives and left dozens missing, according to an official tally. And some 4,500 people have no homes to return to.

"They are not animals, they are people," said Boris Rodriguez, 24, who managed to recover a dozen corpses shortly after an avalanche devastated the village of San Miguel Los Lotes. Along with many other mourners, he is waiting for the bodies, still in the morgue, to be returned to family members for burial.

But some families are losing patience as authorities conduct the methodical process of identifying bodies in the makeshift morgue set up in a local school. Dozens of the dead are being kept there.

Rodriguez has been biding his time at the morgue since Monday. Almost a week after helping recover the corpses of 10 relatives, they have yet to be formally identified.

"It is simply too painful to pull those bodies out and not be able to keep vigil over them," he said, standing near a stack of coffins provided for families unable to afford one.

The identification process is slow, involving DNA testing and interviews with relatives. So far, only 41 bodies have been formally identified, according to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences.