More than 200 coffins plunged into the sea when the cliff near a cemetery on the coast of Italy collapsed, according to reports.
Workers at the Camogli cemetery, which was built more than 100 years ago off the coast of Genoa, first noticed a crack in the cemetery wall on Saturday during routine maintenance, according to Francesco Olivari, the mayor of Camogli.
“Some signs of cracks were seen. We decided to close the cemetery, ”Olivari told CNN.
The 200 coffins were thrown into the sea when the cliff collapsed on Monday.
The crews recovered 10 of the coffins. At least 190 were missing on Tuesday.
Finding the remaining coffins “will depend on the sea in the coming days,” according to regional Civil Protection adviser, Giacomo Giampedrone.
On Monday, Giampedrone said the port authority blocked the coastal area near the cemetery to prevent any coffins from floating into the sea.
“This type of collapse that happened today is very difficult to detect or predict,” said Olivari. “This area is subject to this type of collapse – it is very fragile.”
The Ligurian Civil Protection Office was called in to assess the situation and see if there were still more landslides, as well as to understand the true extent of the damage.
The mayor called this incident an “unimaginable catastrophe”.