Coronavirus: Haunting images of army trucks carrying the dead shows scale of threat
Images and video emerging from Italy show the nation struggling to cope with a surge in deaths amid the coronavirus outbreak.
On Thursday (local time), Italy’s death toll surpassed China’s and now sits at 3,405.
In the nation’s north where the virus has hit worst, cemeteries and crematoriums cannot cope with the influx of bodies.
In Bergamo province, in the region of Lombardy which has proven to be Italy’s epicentre, alarming images of dozens of army trucks lining the streets were widely shared as they are tasked with removing bodies from an area brought to its knees by the virus.
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Bergamo questa sera. Camion dell’esercito per trasportare bare. pic.twitter.com/YryHjVXaza
— Eugenio Iafrate (@IafrateEugenio) March 18, 2020
L’Esercito porta le bare fuori da Bergamo, per la cremazione fuori dalla Lombardia, una terra messa a prova durissima, che lotta senza tregua contro il male.
È un’immagine straziante, che colpisce con la forza di cento, mille pugni. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/LgPgOceSM2— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) March 18, 2020
Over 2000 deaths have been recorded in Bergamo – a region with a population of just 1.1 million. The city of Bergamo itself has a population of 120,000.
‘Tragedy within a tragedy’
Most of the people who have died have done so alone and gone without funerals before they are either buried or cremated.
Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini called the situation a “tragedy within a tragedy”.
Images from cemeteries show families being turned away or watching on from afar as coffins are either buried or taken away to be cremated.
“Military trucks took away 70 coffins to take them elsewhere in Italy to be cremated because in Bergamo it’s impossible to do so,” he told the BBC.
Former Italian deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, shared a “heartbreaking” image of army trucks which “hits with the force of 100,000 punches”.
He called for the support of the rest of Italy as the “devastated community” attempts to get to grips with the relentless pandemic.
Antonio Ricciardi, the head of Bergamo's largest funeral company, revealed they have buried or cremated about 600 so far in March – five times the normal monthly total.
“A generation has died in just over two weeks. We've never seen anything like this, and it just makes you cry,” he said.
A month still hasn’t passed since Italy’s first confirmed case on February 21.
Since then the situation has escalated quickly and lockdown measures implemented on March 8 and tightened in the days after appear to have done little to curtail the surge in cases and deaths.
Italy’s health system has been pushed to its limit, with a lack of hospital beds, medical staff and supplies.
According to the nation’s Ministry of Health, 10 per cent of the infected are health care workers.
In a now viral Facebook post shared earlier this month, Dr Daniele Macchini from Bergamo explained the war against the virus goes on “uninterrupted day and night”.
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