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| Courtesy of Cyprus Mail |
Funerals were held yesterday at the Rizokarpasa cemetery for four of the six people whose deteriorating bodies have been found on the shores of North Cyprus since early January. The funeral was attended by the village imam as well as two of the local police and some municipal employees. A number of private citizens also came to pay their respects.
Examination of such clothing as remained on the six established that it was of Syrian origin and the assumption is that the bodies belonged to would be refugees making the crossing in small boats, possibly in poor weather. None have been identified and the most recently retrieved was in such poor condition that it was not possible at first report to tell whether the victim was male or female. The shortest distance between Syria and the Karpaz peninsula where four of the people were found is only about a hundred kilometres. The other two washed up less predictably on the north shore a little to the east of Girne.
A reminder of the desperation so many face. And Pope Francis saying that the Mediterranean should not become a graveyard of dignity.