On an average day, Sri Lankan cemetery worker Piyasri Gunasena will typically dig one grave — maybe two. But that all changed Sunday.
“This has been the busiest time,” he told the Agence France Presse. “Even during the war, it wasn’t so busy — only the odd funeral for a soldier.”
Gunasena, 48, said the suffering he saw at the Madampitiya Cemetery in Colombo during the decades-long Tamil insurgency, which ended in 2009, pales in comparison to what he’s seen this week from families of the Easter Sunday bombing victims.
On Tuesday, alone, he dug out 10 graves — all by mid-afternoon, according to AFP.
One of the victims was said to be an 11-month-old baby boy.
“Every time I dig a grave for a child I think of my own granddaughter and I feel like crying,” Gunasena said, still covered in sweat and dirt from the last grave he dug.
“When I see people weep, I feel very upset,” he added. “The sound of their wailing is haunting, it doesn’t leave me.”
Gunasena, a Buddhist who frequently goes to temples and churches, said he’s been “praying more than usual” following the terror attacks.
“Several times a day,” he told AFP. “Begging God not to allow such a thing to happen again.”
More than 300 people were killed in the bombings on Sunday, many of whom are still waiting to be buried.
“Police have not released all the remains yet,” Gunasena said. “I think we will be busy for a while.”
Hundreds of people have been going and coming from Madampitiya Cemetery as they mourn the loss of their loved ones. Gunasena has been watching the funerals from a distance and tending to any makeshift memorials that pop up. This includes re-lighting candles and incense that go out.
“It’s my way of respecting the dead, of caring for them, of supporting the families,” he said. “We are all connected. We are all humans first before we are Christian, Buddhist or anything else.
With Post wires