Balata (France) (AFP)

The hearse has stopped in front of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Balata and the funeral agents are busy removing the coffin: for several days, the Germain funeral company, like all the others in Martinique, has seen its activity intensify with the rise in the number of deaths linked to Covid-19.

In front of bereaved family and friends, the funeral directors, all in blue shirts, black pants and black suit waistcoats, carry into the church the coffin where lies a man over 80, who died a few days earlier. of the Covid.

In another refrigerated van, parked next to the church, another coffin awaits: that of another victim of the virus.

His funeral will take place in a few hours, in the same church.

The Germain funeral directors, based in Schoelcher, went to collect the two bodies in the morning from the La Joyau funeral center and crematorium in Fort-de-France, where moments of meditation are organized, in limited capacity.

As in all Covid cases, the two coffins were closed and sealed with silicone on the day of the bottling "in order to prevent odors and the virus from spreading", explains Jean-Florent Verdan, young agent of the 21-year-old funeral directors.

"We live the emotion of families. It's quite difficult, when you are told that you cannot see your deceased and that the coffin is closed," says his colleague Bruno Moderne, 46 years old.

"Since last month, what we used to do, we are doing there, doubled," he says.

- "Hard time" -

"All the funeral directors are called upon," adds Bruno.

In question, as many deaths take place in the hospital, the need to quickly release the 25 lockers where the dead are stored in the mortuary chamber of the Martinique CHU.

"It is a difficult period, we do not expect all that death," adds the funeral counselor of the Germain company, Jonathan Magloire, who directs the funeral ceremony.

After mass, it ends in the cemetery adjacent to the church, where the deceased is accompanied by a long procession.

Funeral directors load the coffin of a person who died of Covid-19 into a hearse on August 17, 2021 in Fort-de-France, Martinique Lionel CHAMOISEAU AFP

“Precautions are taken upstream. When recovering the deceased in the family (if the deceased did not die in the hospital, editor's note), we have a coverall, an overcoat and overshoes,” describes Bruno.

But he regrets that despite the health situation, some families continue to organize funeral vigils at home.

"Due to the effort required, the vigil at home is not at all adapted to the current circumstances" of the pandemic, he said.

Of course, unlike the tradition that the deceased is normally displayed with an open coffin, there the coffin is securely closed.

"But a vigil in Martinique, it's not like in Metropolitan France, where there are three people. Here everyone knows each other. When we have a vigil, we have the impression that it is an evening," says Bruno.

And the risks of contamination are multiplied.

"Today, we sometimes do not report vigils and meditations to the press" to avoid the influx of people, specifies Emmanuel Certain, another manager of a funeral director, and member of the professional union of the sector .

The funeral of a person who died of Covid-19 at Balata cemetery, August 17, 2021 in Fort-de-France, Martinique Lionel CHAMOISEAU AFP

For him, "the situation is serious".

Last week, in his company, there was "only one deceased person who was not Covid. And this week too, only one person".

"Given the influx of deceased people, we do not always have the necessary spaces to allow families to come for their last meditation," he regrets.

Consequence: "we are recommended, as much as possible, that the burials take place faster than normal, within 48 hours".

caz / jk / rhl

© 2021 AFP