sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
EXCLUSIVE: Satellite imagery and newly verified footage show packed crematoriums across China as covid surges — suggesting the country's death toll is far higher than the government says.
washingtonpost.com
Satellite images show crowds at China’s crematoriums as covid surges
An analysis of satellite images and videos finds a dramatic increase in activity at funeral homes, undermining Chinese claims that outbreaks are under control.
6:35 PM · Jan 9, 2023·
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
·
2h
Replying to
@samueloakford
The
@washingtonpost
examined
@Maxar
satellite imagery taken of China since December, which showed an uptick in activity at funeral homes across six different cities.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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2h
At a funeral home on the outskirts of Beijing, a new parking lot appeared in the span of a day, quickly filling with vehicles. Staff at the facility — many sick themselves — were working overtime to cremate an influx of bodies, according to a since-deleted state media report.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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2h
At the Donglin Funeral Home in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan, satellite imagery taken by
@Maxar
on Dec. 21 showed dozens of vehicles parked around the complex, including white vehicles resembling vans used to transport bodies.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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2h
“Due to the unusual circumstances, we are suspending all memorial services, but families can still bid farewell to the deceased prior to cremation,” a receptionist told The Post on Thursday. When asked how long families had to say goodbye, she added: “Two minutes.”
Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
·
2h
To confirm what was happening on the ground, the
@washingtonpost
also examined dozens of videos taken at Chinese funeral homes. The footage shows these locations packed with family members seeking to cremate the bodies of loved ones. Many waited hours, well into the night.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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1h
We verified footage taken at two well-known funeral parlors in Shanghai. This video, posted to Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — in late December, showed crowds outside Baoxing Funeral Home. The user complained that among those waiting hours were "scalpers" holding spaces.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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1h
Informed it would take 5 days before arrangements could be made for his father's cremation, one Shanghai resident waited overnight. After a cremation no family could attend, he was told ashes would be available in a month or two. The death was not recorded as covid-related.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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1h
Maxar satellite imagery from Jan. 3 captured a line of white vehicles along a road at a sprawling funeral home in Nanjing, a major city northwest of Shanghai.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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At another funeral home in Nanjing, video showed a long line of vans and plumes of smoke filling the sky overhead. The woman who posted the footage described waiting for almost a full day to deliver the body of her grandfather to the facility for cremation.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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1h
Satellite imagery taken by
@Maxar
on Jan. 5 captured a filled parking lot at Kunming Funeral Home — and even picks up people crowding outside an entrance.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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1h
Footage taken by visitors to the funeral home allow us to see right inside that entrance, where crowds have lined up for hours, day and night.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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It is not uncommon for funeral homes to be busier during the winter months. But the volume of traffic seen in satellite imagery, along with videos and photos showing a crush of people waiting inside and outside these facilities, suggest activity well beyond what is normal.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
·
59m
“I have worked here for six years and it has never been this busy,” said a receptionist at the Jiangnan Funeral Home in Chongqing. The freezers were full and all eight incinerators were operating 24/7, she said.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
·
59m
That receptionist is one of many funeral home staff and mourners who described scenes consistent with satellite imagery and videos we examined. In all of the areas analyzed, the official death toll announced by authorities was in the single digits — if reported at all.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
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56m
This piece follows on an examination of videos taken inside Chinese hospitals last month, offering an initial glimpse of the covid surge.
washingtonpost.com
After years with little covid, videos show China is now getting hit hard
Alarming videos of Chinese medical facilities offer a glimpse of the toll a huge coronavirus wave is wreaking — and undercut Beijing’s claim that the government is in control.
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Samuel Oakford
@samueloakford
·
51m
The investigation was a Visual Forensics collaboration w/
@lilkuo
,
@Yaoyu_c
,
@imogen_piper
and Lyric Li, overseen by
@nadineajaka
and
@annafifield
. Additional reporting from
@cdcshepherd
+
@theodorayuhk
.
washingtonpost.com
Satellite images show crowds at China’s crematoriums as covid surges
An analysis of satellite images and videos finds a dramatic increase in activity at funeral homes, undermining Chinese claims that outbreaks are under control.
2,741
4
2
11m