Up to 60 bodies found in four trucks outside Brooklyn funeral home
New York (CNN)Four trucks containing as many as 60 bodies have been discovered outside a Brooklyn funeral home after someone reported fluids dripping from the trucks, a law enforcement official told CNN.
The Andrew Cleckley Funeral Home was overwhelmed and ran out of room for bodies, which were awaiting cremation, and used the trucks for storage, a second law enforcement source said Wednesday.
At least one of the trucks was unrefrigerated, according to one law enforcement official. One source said the bodies were put on ice.
The Department of Environmental Protection issued two summonses to the owner of the funeral home for a foul odor.
CNN reached out to the Andrew Cleckley Funeral Home, and someone who identified himself as the owner would not comment.
"They were like almost everyone doing their best to cope," one source said.
The city has been the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak for weeks, with 17,589 confirmed and probable Covid-19 deaths, according to the city website.
Authorities are waiting for tarps and equipment to move the bodies into a larger truck, two sources said.
New York has freezer trucks that funeral homes can use if they are overwhelmed, and the city sent one to hold the bodies, CNN affiliate WABC reported.
"Funeral directors are required to store decedents awaiting burial or other final disposition in appropriate conditions and to follow their routine infection prevention and control precautions," the New York State Health Department said in a statement regarding the incident.
CNN's Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report.
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