Gravediggers in the eastern Siberian city of Chita have dug graves for World War II veterans who are still alive, local television channel Zab.tv reported this week.
“We dig graves in the summer because we won't have time in winter,” Nikolai Styopochkin, caretaker of the city's central cemetery, told the TV crew.
The caretaker also told journalists that the cemetery is running out of space, and there will soon be no more burials there. Local communal services head Andrei Galimordanov confirmed Styopochkin's words and said there was no money for a new graveyard in the city budget.
Galimordanov said building a crematorium would solve the problem, but that building one in Chita would not make sense economically: It is only profitable in cities with a population of over a million people. Chita's population was 324,400 people according to the 2010 census.
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