A Mass COVID Grave in Peru Has Left Families Bereft–And Fighting for Reburial

December 6, 2021

(NPR) – The scene at Loreto Regional Hospital was chaotic. Other relatives were seeking information about their loved ones — and harried workers attempted to attend to both the dying and the dead. At first, Teresa was listed as having been cremated, says Ahuanari. Then officials announced that, no, cremations had been suspended. Teresa’s name showed up a few days later on a list of the buried, but no one could tell Ahuanari where the body actually was. “We had nowhere to turn to get the answer to the question ‘Where is my mom?’ ” she says. “That was the whole month of May. In June, we found out from the press and social media that the bodies had been dumped” in a mass grave on the outskirts of Iquitos. Teresa is believed to be one of more than 400 COVID victims buried there. (Read More)