'One with corpses everywhere': Unburied bodies pose risk of cholera outbreak in Mariupol - Report

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Mariupol, the second busiest in Ukraine before the Russia-Ukraine war, is now a place of deteriorating sanitary conditions. A report by CNN stated that sewage seeps into drinking water and there are fears of a cholera outbreak in the region.

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Exiled local officials of Mariupol on Monday said that Russian officials are apparently planning to impose a quarantine in the city. The report mentioned that decomposing corpses and garbage were contaminating drinking water. This poses a higher risk of cholera and other diseases to those who are there.

The media outlet quoted mayoral adviser Petro Andriushchenko as saying: "There are talks about quarantine. The city is being quietly closed." CNN referred to the comments as a reliable source of information from residents who are still remaining in the city.

Andriushchenko said on national television: "The city has really turned into one with corpses everywhere. They are piled. The occupiers cannot cope with burying them even in mass graves. There is not enough capacity even for this."

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Meanwhile, the bodies of some Ukrainian fighters killed defending the city of Mariupol from Russian forces at a vast steel works have been handed over to Kyiv, the families of Ukraine's Azov unit of the national guard said.

"It's important to note that a third of the bodies (handed over) were Azov fighters, the affiliation of the other fighters to different units is being clarified," the families said in a statement released late on Monday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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