SRI LANKA: Four men pressed dirty rags to their mouths as they toppled a decomposed corpse off a mat on to a smouldering bonfire. Flames licked around the dead woman's body. One man retched at the stench. The other three got straight back to clearing debris.
With Sri Lankans desperate to make a living after the tsunami, some have turned body-burning into a trade.
"It has cost 5,000 rupees (about $50) for three bodies," says Mr S. Manivannan (41), watching from the other side of the pyre. He has come to help an uncle clear his home of splintered wood, brick and sludge, brought by the giant waves that hit Sri Lanka on December 26th. He stands well back from the decayed corpse.
No one knows how many bodies lie buried under slabs of brick and concrete on the east coast - the worst hit by the giant waves that killed more than 30,000 people in Sri Lanka alone.
When the dead are found, no one waits to find out their names. Piles of ashes litter the sand. Columns of smoke rise into the air.
Three corpses were heaped onto burning wood stacks outside the home of Mr Manivannan's uncle, Ponaiah Jawbaratnam, yesterday.
Mr Jawbaratnam said no members of his family had died. The tsunami waves washed bodies from one home to another. Working barefoot, Mr Jawbaratnam cleared much of the splintered wood from on top of the woman's corpse. The team he was paying, some wearing blue rubber gloves, moved in just to finish the job.
Seven bodies have been unearthed in the last few days in this area, near the town of Kalmunai, which now looks like a wasteland of rubble, upturned boats and smashed tombstones. - (Reuters)