Cemetery staff have resorted to digging communal graves for Muslim coronavirus victims as they struggle to keep up with burials.

Islamic traditions state burial should take place within 24 hours of death, but Kemnal Park in Bromley says it has become increasingly difficult to provide individual burials in that time frame since the Covid 19 outbreak has hit London.

Special projects manager Richard Gomersall said Kemnal Park said they had consulted with the Muslim community and decided to dig four "saff graves", which will each provide a resting place for 10 deceased people.

Social distancing rules mean sadly only one representative from each family can attend the saff burials, but Mr Gomersall said it was an attempt to offer an alternative option and solution to those families who required it.

And he said reports of mass graves being dug at the site were misleading.

"I don't think calling it a mass grave is accurate," he said. "The term mass grave implies the piling of bodies and we're not doing that at all.

"Each individual is laid to rest. The only thing that's different is it's long grave, and we put them in a long channel.

"We've spoken to community scholars and Imams and they said in essence we need to be burying quicker.

"We've got our gravediggers digging as fast as possible."

He explained there were two elements to Kemnal Park - one a traditional cemetery and the second a dedicated Muslim area - Eternal Gardens - which is one of just two dedicated Muslim cemeteries in London. But he said reports suggesting the community had been hit harder by the outbreak were also misleading.

"All I can tell you is we've seen and increase in demand from the Islamic community, but we are one of only two Islamic cemeteries in London and London is hotspot for coronavirus," he explained.

He added: "What we've seen is unprecedented. We're making four of these saff graves to allow an extra 40 people to be buried. We've done one, we're preparing another for this weekend and two next week.

"Before last weekend we had five burials a week, but it was 50 last week. We've gone up tenfold and we've still got people booking for next week."

He praised staff members for their dedication, as they geared up for a tough few weeks ahead, adding: "The team here has been just amazing. They've demonstrated everything we want from our team - care, respect, patience, proactivity. The gravediggers have been working seven day shifts, starting early in the morning to late in the evening.

"The service team have done the same, and everyone has risen to the challenge and demonstrated the best of humanity."

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