Burial Team in Sierra Leone Goes on Strike; Dumps Bodies of Ebola Victims on Streets

Workers hired to bury dead Ebola victims in Sierra Leone have gone on strike and are dumping bodies out on the streets for not receiving their dues.

A spokesman for the striking workers in the eastern town of Kenema, said they had not been paid their weekly hazard allowance for seven weeks, reports Reuters.

The authorities are threatening to dismiss the whole Ebola Burial Team although they agree they have defaulted on the payments.

"Displaying corpses in a very, very inhumane manner is completely unacceptable," said Sidi Yahya Tunis, the spokesman for the National Ebola Response Centre.

Tunis claimed that money had been paid to the district health management but the matter needed to be investigated to find out where the money went.

The workers abandoned 15 bodies in and around the hospital of the town, which included two babies.

Sierra Leone has been most affected by the deadly Ebola virus, which has gripped the West Africa nations including Liberia and Guinea.

Since March, 5,500 people have died of the disease, according to official figures. Despite the United Nations and countries across the world rushing in money and health care facilities, the virus is not still under control.

Dangerous working conditions, lack of proper facilities and inadequate precautions have led healthcare workers to go on strike in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Two weeks ago, health workers walked off from a clinic in Bo, the only Ebola treatment centre in southern Sierra Leone, reports Reuters.