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MOSUL, Iraq - Six years after the liberation of Mosul from the brutal clutches of the Islamic State (ISIS), the search continues for the dead who lie under piles of rubble on the western bank of the city that bore the brunt of nine months of destructive war.
Search and rescue teams say they find seven to eight bodies every week.
Two weeks ago, the bones of eleven individuals were discovered close to Lays Hisham's house in Mosul’s old city.
"The better they search, the more dead bodies they find. Two weeks ago, they found 11 dead bodies in this place, just close to my house. There are plenty of odors here including the odor of dead bodies, the clothing, and many other things," Hisham said.
It was in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul that ISIS’ now dead leader declared their so-called caliphate in 2014. Ousting the militants from the narrow, winding alleys of the old city was a house-to-house battle and when victory was declared in July 2017, much of the centuries-old buildings were in ruins.
Since 2017, a total of 6,044 bodies have been recovered. Of them, 3,749 have been identified. The remaining 2,295 unidentified includes 800 children.
The city buries the unknown bodies if they are not claimed by family within two months.
"Following measures and inspections being carried out for the dead bodies, we will place the dead bodies in refrigerators at the Mosul morgue for a legal timeframe of 60 days. Upon instruction from the court, we will bury them in coordination with the Mosul municipality," Shahd Arif, head of the Mosul forensic department, told Rudaw.
Despite the smell of death that haunts parts of the city, health authorities have not registered any diseases as a result of the bodies lying under the rubble.
Search and rescue teams say they find seven to eight bodies every week.
Two weeks ago, the bones of eleven individuals were discovered close to Lays Hisham's house in Mosul’s old city.
"The better they search, the more dead bodies they find. Two weeks ago, they found 11 dead bodies in this place, just close to my house. There are plenty of odors here including the odor of dead bodies, the clothing, and many other things," Hisham said.
It was in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul that ISIS’ now dead leader declared their so-called caliphate in 2014. Ousting the militants from the narrow, winding alleys of the old city was a house-to-house battle and when victory was declared in July 2017, much of the centuries-old buildings were in ruins.
Since 2017, a total of 6,044 bodies have been recovered. Of them, 3,749 have been identified. The remaining 2,295 unidentified includes 800 children.
The city buries the unknown bodies if they are not claimed by family within two months.
"Following measures and inspections being carried out for the dead bodies, we will place the dead bodies in refrigerators at the Mosul morgue for a legal timeframe of 60 days. Upon instruction from the court, we will bury them in coordination with the Mosul municipality," Shahd Arif, head of the Mosul forensic department, told Rudaw.
Despite the smell of death that haunts parts of the city, health authorities have not registered any diseases as a result of the bodies lying under the rubble.
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