Citizens in Turkmenistan buried in disguised graves that cannot be seen from satellites - report

AKIPRESS.COM - The authorities of Lebap region in Turkmenistan require relatives of the deceased people to disguise graves so that they cannot be seen from satellites, the Turkmen service of RFE/RL reports.
Turkmenistan still denies the presence of coronavirus, despite the fact that hospitals are overcrowded and the death rate is rising.
New demands from the authorities happened after recent publication of ACCA, which reported increased number of graves in Balkanabat city with a reference to satellite maps.
Journalists found out that 524 people died in city from May 31, 2018 to March 25, 2020, while 317 more graves appeared in the cemetery in almost a month - from March 25 to April 16, 2020.
The number of graves in cemeteries has grown 15 times since last year in Lebap region, according to the Turkmen service of RFE/RL.
The authorities also demand from the population to bury relatives so that the graves are flat and not visible from satellites. It is forbidden to attend funerals, to put tombstones or other markings on graves.
Journalists also report about shortage of lung ventilators in hospitals which treat patients with coronavirus. There are only four ventilators for hundreds of patients in quarantine zone in one of the office buildings.
Ventilators are also unavailable for patients in infectious diseases hospital in Ashgabat suburb. Doctors reportedly ask almost $56 per day for using ventilator.
"Patients in serious health condition are doomed without money, because there is not enough oxygen for everyone. The real action is going on for a few ventilators - who can pay most, he or she will be able to breathe oxygen," Turkmen.news reports.
Turkmen service of RFE/RL earlier reported that almost every family in the country has coronavirus infection cases or those who died from it, that gravediggers in cemeteries work "without stop" and bodies in the morgue are handed out in plastic bags.
Ashgabat morgues hand out the bodies of the deceased for burial in polyethylene.
"Relatives receive bodies for burial in plastic bags, wrapped on top with a cloth soaked in chlorine," the Turkmen service correspondent reported on July 23.