Venezuelan fashion house turns to sewing body bags after twin earthquakes kill thousands

A fashion workshop in Venezuela has shifted from making elegant dresses to producing body bags for victims of the devastating twin earthquakes that struck the country on June 24.

• Twin earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela on June 24, killing more than 4,700 people and leaving about 50,000 missing.
• Designer Efrain Mogollon and his 22-member team began producing polyethylene body bags, which they donate to rescue workers, volunteers, and families.
• The team has made about 1,000 body bags; half went to the National Authority for Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Caracas, half directly to rescue teams and relatives.
• The government set up a temporary morgue at La Guaira port and expanded a cemetery for unidentified victims; the UN is expected to provide 10,000 body bags.