Fifty corpses are stored in the Institute of Legal Medicine in Tenerife

Some? fifty dead bodies gather currently Institute of Legal Medicine (im L) Holy Cross of tenerife And this the smell becomes unbearable For forensic doctors and other officers who carry out their work in the said organisation, especially in the plant where the said remains are located.

Sources from the said organization say that Post mortem of such dead bodies has already been done.but still The court order has not come to allow them to leave the building. And proceed with burial or cremation. is about unclaimed peoplemany of them dead migrant During the crossing or after completing the so-called Canary Route from Africa.

The situation matches Protest raised by strike committee Institute of Legal Medicine, which Demand for better management of this resource, more transparency And the Canary Islands government is moving to fire the director, Jesús Vega González, as a preliminary step to a new operating system for the entity.

González Vega confirmed to EL DAA that there are many bodies concentrated in the facilities, far more than should be the case in this type of facility. The director reported that “some are less than 60.” As of last Tuesday, February 6, there were 54, according to data this newspaper had yesterday. So, 51 had already been autopsied and three were still yet to be done.

He clarified that the bodies which The post mortem of the dead body has been done “They emerge when there is judicial authorization”, that is, when each court issues the corresponding documents for one or more corpses. And, in addition, some city councils have the responsibility to inform the courts that they have one or more burial places.

According to Justice Ministry sources consulted by EL DAA, this problem is not the responsibility of the Canary Islands government, which is only responsible for carrying out forensic tests.

Jesús Vega González refused to respond to the criticism made by the unions Intersyndicala Canaria (IC), CSIF, CCOO and STAJ (the union of workers of the administration of justice), who are calling for a strike and demanding that he Be removed from management. ,

On behalf of the union organizations they point out that the emergency room is full of dead bodies And, in another room, are cold rooms, designed to hold one corpse, but storing two each. As for the unions, it is up to the IML director to insist that the courts order the release of the mortal remains.

decadence and funk

The state of decline is clear and the smell is unbearable Near the places where the bodies were found. A member of the association says that the body preservation rooms are ready to keep them for two or three days till the post-mortem is conducted. However, these facilities do not meet the freezing conditions necessary to preserve a body for months or years. This means that there is a progressive process of decomposition and deterioration of dead bodies. The main thing is that the legal medical institution is not equipped to function as a morgue. However, it is known that a body has been in the building since August 2021.

In other cases, before lack of space, the bodies arrive and are left on the autopsy table waiting to have these tests done. However, there is no freezing on this surface, so its preservation is not completely guaranteed before it can be analyzed by professionals in the forensic pathology department.

There are times when, due to lack of space in the legal medical institution, they are requested to stay in chambers owned by the company Servisa, a funeral home that provides judicial services. And, in the most difficult moments, when even these offices are full and for example, judicial deaths occur in a hospital like La Candelaria, it is demanded that the corpses remain in the morgues of said buildings.

Union organizations say these serious shortages of space are not permanent, but are “temporary peaks.” For example, one of them occurred between the end of April and May 2021, when a dinghy with 24 dead migrants was located in the waters near El Hierro.

Another serious situation of accumulation of dead bodies happened in August last year. And the last one was detected between mid-December and today.

lack of sources

“although there are Lack of human resources and material resources, There is proper management for them and the requests are matched by the director,” comments a union representative. From their perspective, “management in recent years has not been adequate and has reportedly even become irregular.”

And said union member noted that there is an open judicial file regarding the funding and payment of guard services at the provincial level. The strike committee believes this is another example of the alleged lack of transparency in the work of Jesús Vega González, who has been in office since 2009.

There are three autopsy assistants in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro., who must travel to non-capital islands and have joint services with forensic doctors in Tenerife. For representatives of the CCOO, IC, CSIF and STAJ, this number of professionals is too low and, sometimes, the analysis of bodies is delayed due to the lack of personnel in that area.

According to the Strike Committee, another problem occurs with extrajudicial files, which relate to victims of traffic accidents who request evaluation of their injuries by IML professionals after payment of established fees. Members of the association remember that the admission and assignment of charge to a specific officer for the processing of each case is a function that corresponds to the director of the institution. And then a forensic doctor will appoint, evaluate and issue a report. One of the sources consulted said that there are many cases in which it takes more than a year to appoint a forensic doctor, “and in some cases, more than two.” There are professionals who have received extrajudicial files between August 2023 and January 2024, related to the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. With this reality, explains a union spokesperson, the “bottleneck” has been transferred to forensic doctors, who must perform the said work as an “addition” to their daily activity.