Hundreds of volunteers will clean the bones of the forgotten corpses left in unmarked graves in what is one of Thailand's oldest charitable traditions.

Hundreds of volunteers will clean the bones of the forgotten corpses left in unmarked graves in what is one of Thailand's oldest charitable traditions.

Poh Teck Tung Foundation Cemetery, Thailand•Hundreds of volunteers will clean the bones of the forgotten corpses left in unmarked graves in what is one of Thailand's oldest charitable traditions

The remains of 3,890 people who died without being identified will be exhumed and meticulously cleaned, ready to be put into storage to make space for more of the dead in the famous Poh Teck Tung Foundation Cemetery in Samut Sakhon province.
But first they must drag the remains from tightly knit but shallow graves, being painfully careful not to damage the bones and using only tiny tools to break the sun-baked soil in order to remove them form their resting places.
Once cleaned and stored, there will be a Buddhist ceremonial event before they go into storage at a warehouse, and they will eventually be cremated when the chance of surviving relatives coming forward has disappeared with the passing of time.
It's a huge operation that will see the hundreds of volunteers take part, some of them scrubbing the bones with toothbrushes then labeling them with military precision so that they could still be claimed if relatives come forward to pay respects to their loved ones who have passed.
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