Medics need new morgue to house Rabaa Adawiya dead

CAIRO

Doctors at a newly-installed makeshift hospital hundreds of meters away from Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square urged authorities to provide more space to house the bodies of slain supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

"We urge the Forensic Authority to provide a new morgue after Zenhom [Cairo's main morgue] has been over flooded with bodies," a doctor, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Anadolu Agency.

The Iman Mosque in Nasr City has 350 bodies and the place is not equipped to host dead bodies for a long time, he said.

"Many of the bodies were found burnt in the tents and side streets over the past few hours," said the doctor, noting that many of the bodies are charred beyond recognition.

An AA reporter on the scene said a state of shock and sadness cast its shadow on the mosque as many failed to identify their relatives whether because they were not there or because the burnt bodies were too disfigured.

"Many of the corpses are burnt, either completely or partially," witnesses said.

On Wednesday, security forces dispersed two sit-ins staged by Morsi supporters in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and Giza's Nahda Square.

The Health Ministry said at least 278 Egyptians were killed and 2,001 others injured in violence that engulfed the country, including 61 in Rabaa and 21 in Nahda squares.

But Youssef Talaat, a member of the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, a coalition of Islamist parties and figures supportive of Morsi, put the toll at 2,600.

englishnews@aa.com.tr