Live tweets about the work state mortuary officials in Johannesburg do and how they cope with it is causing quite a buzz on Twitter.
The #deathdrive series by reporter Graeme Hosken (@graemehosken) makes for some morbid but fascinating reading‚ providing intriguing insights into the city’s mortuaries “where bodies pour in and overworked staff battle to get to grips with death”.
It starts off with the Hillbrow Mortuary‚ which is said to be the country’s busiest‚ handling up to 14 bodies a night.
The stark reality of just how busy the morgue is‚ is evidenced in a tweet referring to ‘body tag 221’. “That’s 221 bodies since 1 January 2016. Last year the morgue processed nearly 3000 bodies‚” the tweet reads.
What are the biggest nightmares for mortuary workers?
“The bad ones are train crashes. Car smashes its a few body pieces‚ but trains. Eish everything smears‚” says one of the workers.
Adds Selby‚ another of the workers: “For me the worst is bike accidents. They either split in two or explode. Doing crazy speeds they crash they explode.
“My worst day?” he says‚ “The day I picked up 11 bodies. They were in a bakkie going to a funeral. The tyre burst. It was hectic.”
“This is reality. Blood‚ guts‚ the tears. People think death is movie stuff. It’s not. It’s real and hurts‚” says Sello Mabote
“How do I feel about the bodies? It depends who they are. Robbers? Nothing. Innocent crime victims? Very sad‚” adds Sello.
Percy: “People can be horrendous. Here we have husbands throwing their wives and kids from buildings often‚ it’s a weekend thing.
Selby again: “Speed? Its only us and the dead that can tell you what it does. Well only us really. The dead don’t talk.”
How do they feel about death?
Selby: “This job doesn’t make you scared of death. It makes you respect death. Even if you don’t know the dead you respect them.”
Not for the fainthearted or queasy‚ one clearly has to have a stomach for the job. “The one thing this job makes you think twice about is eating red meat. Especially after your first day and first autopsy‚” notes Percy.
“How do we relax? Soccer between the morgues. Are we good? So-so. We lost 9-1 to Germiston last week but they are young‚” Selby says.
“My home life? “ asks Selby. “Home’s far from my mind here. It has to be. Only when I step out these doors do I think of home only then.”
#deathdrive – an insight into the lives of mortuary workers
Live tweets about the work state mortuary officials in Johannesburg do and how they cope with it is causing quite a buzz on Twitter.
The #deathdrive series by reporter Graeme Hosken (@graemehosken) makes for some morbid but fascinating reading‚ providing intriguing insights into the city’s mortuaries “where bodies pour in and overworked staff battle to get to grips with death”.
It starts off with the Hillbrow Mortuary‚ which is said to be the country’s busiest‚ handling up to 14 bodies a night.
The stark reality of just how busy the morgue is‚ is evidenced in a tweet referring to ‘body tag 221’. “That’s 221 bodies since 1 January 2016. Last year the morgue processed nearly 3000 bodies‚” the tweet reads.
What are the biggest nightmares for mortuary workers?
“The bad ones are train crashes. Car smashes its a few body pieces‚ but trains. Eish everything smears‚” says one of the workers.
Adds Selby‚ another of the workers: “For me the worst is bike accidents. They either split in two or explode. Doing crazy speeds they crash they explode.
“My worst day?” he says‚ “The day I picked up 11 bodies. They were in a bakkie going to a funeral. The tyre burst. It was hectic.”
“This is reality. Blood‚ guts‚ the tears. People think death is movie stuff. It’s not. It’s real and hurts‚” says Sello Mabote
“How do I feel about the bodies? It depends who they are. Robbers? Nothing. Innocent crime victims? Very sad‚” adds Sello.
Percy: “People can be horrendous. Here we have husbands throwing their wives and kids from buildings often‚ it’s a weekend thing.
Selby again: “Speed? Its only us and the dead that can tell you what it does. Well only us really. The dead don’t talk.”
How do they feel about death?
Selby: “This job doesn’t make you scared of death. It makes you respect death. Even if you don’t know the dead you respect them.”
Not for the fainthearted or queasy‚ one clearly has to have a stomach for the job. “The one thing this job makes you think twice about is eating red meat. Especially after your first day and first autopsy‚” notes Percy.
“How do we relax? Soccer between the morgues. Are we good? So-so. We lost 9-1 to Germiston last week but they are young‚” Selby says.
“My home life? “ asks Selby. “Home’s far from my mind here. It has to be. Only when I step out these doors do I think of home only then.”
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