Collapse at the Poggioreale Cemetery, hundreds of graves hit: temporary closure

Collapse at the Poggioreale Cemetery

Bad news for the Poggioreale Cemetery in Naples because last night there was a severe collapse of a building inside.

It is a three-storey building located in the hemicycle of the oldest area of ​​Poggioreale and are at least 200 niches that were damaged. Many collapsed tombstones and many even the uprooted coffins that were hit and even dozens of corpses escaped.

It is a building, that ofarchconfraternity of the Doctors, which houses the common niches and noble chapels.

The collapse took place during the night, but some keepers noticed it only at 6 am, obviously alerting the police.

Safety is in progress

At the moment, the operations to secure the niches that have suffered damage thanks to the work of the Fire Brigade and Civil Protection.

The causes of the collapse

There are also technicians on site who are analyzing the area to see if it is possible to talk about a link between the collapse and the construction site of metro line 1 which is nearby of the Poggioreale Cemetery.

In fact, due to these works, the subsidence phenomenon, that is the slow and gradual sinking of the soil due to the exploitation of aquifers, considering that the construction site acts underground precisely in correspondence with the collapsed building. It would have diverted the slopes of the Sebeto River, leaving gaps that caused the collapse.

Ruins in Poggioreale
Photo credit Cesare Abbate (Ansa)

Another hypothesis put forward concerns theerosion of atmospheric agents, especially the violent rains of the past few weeks, but in reality of all the previous years that have affected structures that are already old in themselves. And it is precisely the "seniority" of these structures, linked to poor maintenance, another reason that could have led to this collapse. Without maintenance, the state of conservation is very bad and sooner or later there are consequences like this.

Let's wait more reliable news after the appropriate inspections have been made.

The Cemetery is temporarily closed

Of course at the moment it is not possible to enter the Cemetery until the situation improves. The area is now under seizure and will be closed as follows:

  • closure to the public until January 19;
  • mortuary police operations suspended until Saturday January 8 2022.

Cover source: Napoli Today

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Written by Fabiana Bianchi
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