Since the morgues in New York were overcrowded, the bodies of the deceased had to be stored in refrigerated trucks. They remain there to this day.
As previously reported by News Front, last spring, the United States became the leader in the spread of coronavirus due to the incompetence of the authorities. New York, in turn, has become the American epicenter of the epidemic.
Then dozens of refrigerated trucks were sent to the city by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They were parked near hospitals to store the bodies of the deceased, because there was no place in the morgues, and the funeral homes could not cope with the load.
These trucks still sit along the Brooklyn waterfront, and hundreds of bodies are still stored in freezers. According to a report by the city council’s health committee, the remains of 750 victims of the pandemic are involved. Most of them may end up on Hart Island, warns Dina Maniotis, deputy forensic commissioner.
The island became famous last year for its eerie footage of mass graves. For more than a century, the city buried the homeless and the poor here, whose families could not pay for a place in the cemetery. In 2021, the island became the final resting place for many coronavirus victims.
While the city is negotiating with the families of the deceased, Maniotis said most of the bodies stored in the trucks will eventually also travel to Hart Island.