Fears that coffins and remains have been removed from the Addolorata Cemetery have grown as reports of the burial ground’s run-down state emerge.
There have been reports in recent years about coffins in crypts at Malta’s largest cemetery going missing, with the remains of the deceased nowhere to be found, according to relatives.
Speaking to the Times of Malta on condition of anonymity, a member of a family that owns a crypt there said they were shocked when they realised during a funeral that the coffins of ancestors buried there earlier had disappeared.
“We had buried my father in the 1990s and I remember seeing all the coffins of other relatives in the family crypt. When my mother died about two years ago, I realised, as her coffin was being lowered, that all the other coffins were gone along with the remains,” he said.
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The family decided to come forward with the information following reports in this newspaper that the cemetery was in a run-down state, fearing that thefts of coffins could still be taking place there because of the apparent neglect.
Expressing disgust at the state the cemetery was in, another family member described how he was inconsolable when he opened the crypt and realised that his father’s remains were not there anymore.
He feared the removal of coffins was not a one-off incident, adding that whoever was responsible seemed to be able to do it with impunity.
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Contacted about the complaints, a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry confirmed that a police investigation had been carried out. She did not elaborate or discuss the outcome of the police probe.
The spokeswoman said the ministry, which is responsible for the running of cemeteries, had in the past few days stepped up the upkeep of the Addolorata cemetery by “adding maintenance personnel”.
She added that a project announced by Health Minister Chris Fearne last July, through which the government would enter into a €16 million private-public partnership for the cemetery's extension, maintenance and restoration would start later this year.
“The Addolorata cemetery project will kick off as soon as the tender is adjudicated later on this year. Currently, all the necessary preparatory works and reviews of proposals are being carried out,” she said.
The project would see an additional 2,800 graves added to the “crowded” cemetery.
The contract would be tied to a €6 million restoration obligation to be undertaken by the chosen concessionaire.