Genoa, Italy, Landslide Sends Hundreds Of Coffins Into The Sea

A landslide on Monday (February 22), along a rocky area of seaside cliffs in Camogli, on the Genoa coast in Italy, caused a 100-year-old cemetery to collapse, sending more than 200 coffins down into the sea it is estimated.

The mayor of Camogli, Francesco Olivari, called the collapse an “unimaginable catastrophe”, telling CNN that of the estimated 200 coffins, so far, only 10 have been recovered, with the regional assessor of civil protection Giacomo Giampedrone commenting, “recovering the rest of them will depend on the sea in the coming days”.

Giampedrone said the Genoa port authority on Monday night had blocked the coastal area below the cemetery, to keep the coffins from floating out to sea.

Mayor Olivari explained that on Saturday workers were performing maintenance work along the cliffs when they noticed cracks in the rocks and immediately stopped working, saying, “We were doing work on a portion of the rocky coast, it was close to the area that fell today. Some signs of fissures were seen. We decided to close the cemetery”.