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Tragic scenes as clifftop cemetery collapses into the sea

A landslide has caused hundreds of coffins to end up in the ocean on the Italian coast near Genoa.

The Camogli cemetery was built more than 100 years ago and is situated along an area of rocky seaside cliffs.

Francesco Olivari, the mayor of Camogli, called the collapse an “unimaginable catastrophe.”

Maintenance was being performed on Saturday alongside the areas of the coastline when it was stopped after workers noticed cracks in the rocks.

“We were doing work on a portion of the rocky coast - it was close to the area that fell today,” Olivari told CNN on Monday.

“Some signs of fissures were seen. We decided to close the cemetery.”

On Tuesday, officials said they will continue work on recovering the coffins and corpses.

It is estimated 200 coffins had fallen, but only 10 have been recovered.

Recovering the rest of the coffins will "depend on the sea in the coming days", according to Giacomo Giampedrone, regional assessor of civil protection.

Tags:
coffins, ocean, landslide, italy