No room left to bury drowning refugees on Greek islands: officials

There is no more room left in the cemeteries of Lesvos to bury drowning refugees, local officials told Greek media on Tuesday.

The statement comes ahead of the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Parliament President Martin Schulz to the island on Thursday.

Lesvos, an island of about 85,000 residents, has received more than half of the 500,000 refugees and migrants who have reached Greece's shores from the start of 2015. Hundreds of refugees did not make it across from Turkey to Greece on small boats.

Dozens of dead bodies from recent tragedies off the island's coasts over the past week are kept in a refrigerated container, as there is no more space in the morgue or the cemetery.

Lesvos Mayor Spyros Galinos and the island's Christian Orthodox Bishop Iakovos told Vima (Tribune) radio station and Mega television that up to 50 bodies remain unburied for days.

On Samos island, local authorities said that they faced a similar problem and there were about 30 unburied bodies.

According to officials on both islands, heavy bureaucracy in legal proceedings does not allow the use of plots of land next to cemeteries that have been donated to the local public hospitals to be used as burial site for the refugees.

According to the Lesvos Bishop, the process could take up to three years for local authorities to find a solution to overcome such obstacles. Endit