Gravediggers facing deadly health risks due to primitive working conditions

The primitive conditions in which government-employed gravediggers are forced to work are resulting in health risks and unnecessary pain for the bereaved, an investigation by The Sunday Times of Malta has revealed. This newspaper was present during a scheduled 'cleaning' of graves in the early hours of the morning at the Rabat cemetery in March following a tip-off. What was witnessed beggared belief – an emotion much harder to cope with for those who faced the removal of their loved ones' coffins. The cleaning is a necessary process to create space for the next coffin, but the way it was handled had family members crying, shocked and angry. The gravediggers are not to blame, because even the most basic equipment is denied them. Men lower themselves into the grave equipped only with a pair of plastic gloves, which have to be reused, as they are not disposable. They have no protective clothing. Their skin is exposed. They do not even have a face mask to protect them from the stench and the health hazards related to the exhumation of bodies. Each man who descends into the darkness of the grave collects the remains from disintegrated coffins and hands them to another gravedigger...

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