A woman who went to visit the grave of her late mother on the anniversary of her death, was “shocked” and “disgusted” when she was greeted by the sight of a rotting casket in a rubbish-filled skip.

“I felt disgusted and sad when I saw this at the back entrance of the cemetery. It shows a complete disrespect towards our loved ones who have passed away. These are people who worked hard throughout their lifetime. They are the people who made us who we are today. They deserve better,” the 54-year-old woman told Times of Malta.

The reader, who preferred not to be named, took a photo of the skip on Sunday.

“Something needs to be done to better maintain the cemetery. The whole place is falling apart. The road inside the cemetery is riddled with potholes making it hard for the elderly visiting their loved ones,” she said. 

Promises not kept

This is not the first time that the issue of insensitivity at the Addolorata Cemetery has cropped up. Way back in 2013, the Health Ministry  - reacting to a similar photo of a rotting casket in a skip - promised more sensitivity and said that skips will be screened off when graves are cleaned.

In recent years, the cemetery has come to resemble abandoned grounds and not a peaceful place where relatives could mourn their loved ones. During visits earlier this year, Times of Malta often found mountains of garbage bags in various areas, and while there were several rubbish bins in place, these proved useless, as they were still badly damaged and rusting, with garbage spilling from the side of the bins in some cases.

In February this year, the Health Ministry accounced plans for an upgrade of the cemetery - the island’s largest burial ground. The building of new graves will take about three years to complete while the process to restore the entire burial grounds would go on for six years.

The works will be carried out by Campo Santo – a joint venture formed by Polidano Brothers Limited, Camray Company Ltd and Mario Tonna – who were awarded a 15-year concession for €15.1 million for works on the cemetery.

A spokesman for Campo Santo said that when the cemetery was cleaned, skips were usually collected from within the cemetery grounds. However, this was not possible at the moment due to works being carried out for the building of new graves.

As a result, on Sunday, the skip had to be taken outside the cemetery from where it was about to be picked up. The photo in question was taken just before, as evidenced from the image that shows one empty skip beneath a full one, he said.