Municipal workers in Siberia are under fire after dumping Civil War-era remains, including an intact human skull, on a roadway being cleared of ice and snow.
The grisly incident took place in the town of Kirensk, Irkutsk Oblast, about 600 miles north of Mongolia’s border as the crow flies. Road crews had allegedly dredged sand for de-icing from an area adjacent to a burial site that was established about 100 years ago, during Joseph Stalin’s rule.
People of the community shared images of the macabre scene on social media, including local politician Nikolay Trufanov, a member of the ruling United Russia party, who condemned the work on Facebook. Roughly translated, Trufanov explained, “In Kirensk, sand containing skulls and bones was put on the roads. According to preliminary information, communal workers took sand from the territory near the cemetery.
“I can’t even describe how outrageous this is. I hope law enforcement agencies will investigate what happened as quickly as possible.” Trufanov also said he will be “watching to see that the perpetrators are punished.”
Officials believe the grit was hauled in from a Russian Civil War cemetery.
“According to preliminary data, a logging enterprise took soil along Yakutskaya Street to fill the road at the request of the administration of the Kirensky district. According to unofficial information, these are fragments of old graves from the Civil War,” a town administrator told Russian news outlets, the Independent reported.
The grim episode has been compared to a more infamous “road of bones,” a 1,250 mile highway in Kolyma, Siberia, built by gulag laborers in the 1930s, at the height of the USSR. It is believed that some 250,000 died while constructing the path.
Road workers in Kirensk have since paused their de-icing operation as investigations proceed.