Northern Syria -

After waiting for more than 5 hours and the sunset approaching, the family of Akram al-Halabi (a pseudonym) was able to bury their deceased, who is in his sixties, due to the late arrival of the burial car in the city of Aleppo, which is under the control of the Syrian regime.

After suffering from an incurable disease, Al-Halabi passed away, leaving his family's grief and pain, while waiting for his burial and his body's stay at home doubled the grief and anguish of his family, after the fuel scarcity crisis in regime-controlled areas affected all aspects of life.

Youssef, the son of the deceased, recounts how the staff at the burial office in the city of Aleppo told him that he had to wait his turn in order to secure a vacant car to transport his father's body. He had to wait for hours before the arrival of an old-fashioned rickety vehicle that carried the body to its final resting place in the family cemetery.

Youssef says - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the employees' justifications were the lack of sufficient fuel for car movement after the government reduced the quantities allocated to the vehicles of the city's burial department.

However, he added, "Wasta and nepotism play a role in expediting burial procedures and transporting the deceased."

The relatives of the deceased suggested that his son pay an amount of money to one of the employees to expedite the procedures and not wait, which he refused in view of the rest of the funeral and other burial expenses awaiting him.

And with the continuation of the fuel crisis in the areas controlled by the Syrian regime, the transportation movement has become almost uninterrupted in the city of Aleppo, to be limited to a few buses and private cars, at a time when some used open cargo trucks to transport the people, despite the cold weather.

Graves are available

The crisis is no longer confined to the neighborhoods, as it affected the departed residents of the city, and deepened the pain of their families.

The head of the burial department in Aleppo, Jihad Jumaa, said that the decision to reduce the amount of fuel affected the movement of burial vehicles in the city.

He pointed out that the total number of cars belonging to the department does not exceed 8, of which 6 are powered by petrol and two are powered by diesel.

"The delay in transporting the dead is due to the high number of deaths during the winter season as a result of cold and diseases, as about 40 deaths are recorded daily in Aleppo," Jumaa said - in a previous statement to the pro-regime radio station, Al-Madina FM.

Jumaa confirmed that the Department of Burial of the Dead is waiting for approval to purchase 6 additional cars to remedy this crisis in transporting the bodies of the deceased, indicating that the graves are available to all, and the price of the grave does not exceed 180,000 Syrian pounds (equivalent to 30 dollars), and the cost of the shroud is about 60,000 pounds ( $10).

One of the cemeteries in Syria, where the relatives of the dead suffer from the crisis of their transportation and the dominance of some brokers over the graves (Al-Jazeera)

Astronomical prices

Delaying the burial of the deceased in the city of Aleppo does not appear to be the only dilemma facing the relatives, as the vacant graves have entered profit and loss operations in favor of influential people, in addition to the obstacles to obtaining official papers for the burial.

Hussein al-Muhammad, a grave digger in one of the cemeteries in Aleppo, says that the prices of graves start from 200,000 Syrian pounds to reach more than a million pounds, according to the location of the grave inside the cemetery, its location, and its proximity to the city center, in addition to the difference in the price between the new grave and the old or renovated one.

Al-Muhammad told Al-Jazeera Net that many graves have become in the custody of brokers who take advantage of the families of the recently deceased who do not possess an old grave, as they demand astronomical prices in order to obtain the grave.

Routine complications

According to the Syrian law, the grave is not subject to buying and selling, but the property belongs to the Ministry of Endowments in the country, while the eligibility for burial is determined by the first death in it and his family, and it is not possible to bury a person who is a stranger to the family and who is not the legal heirs.

On the other hand, the law allows the assignment of graves between the legal heirs of them, without there being any financial consideration in return for the assignment, on the pretext that there was no sale or financial agreement between the two parties.

A burial permit is not granted to the relatives of the deceased unless they obtain a medical report or a death certificate certified and sealed by the Medical Syndicate in the city, including a permit from the district mukhtar of the municipality in the areas controlled by the Syrian regime, which the residents describe as routine complications.