Mourners 'heartbroken' over flooded graves

The Sheffield Muslim Burial Council has been formed to highlight the issue of flooded graves at Shiregreen Cemetery

A group of mourners have formed a campaign group after their relatives' graves began to flood.

Members of the Sheffield Muslim Burial Council have had to pump out water from plots at Shiregreen Cemetery themselves before they could be used for new burials.

The Muslim community said some bereaved families had been distressed to see water "pouring out" of graves.

Sheffield City Council, which manages the graveyard, is now investigating where the water is coming from and has commissioned testing.

The issue has been affecting the section of the cemetery that is reserved for Islamic interments.

Traditional Muslim burials involve the coffin being placed inside a bottomless concrete vault, and mourners said the cavity around the coffin was the area of the plot affected by the flooding.

The Sheffield Muslim Burial Council say water is flooding into the graves of their loved ones from below the vaults

Saghir Hussain is a member of the action group and said the flooding was causing “massive concern” to the Muslim community.

“We have members being treated for depression, knowing their loved ones are buried in this water. Every day they visit the graves, they can see water pouring out from the top,” he said.

Amjid Tahir, who said he had several relatives laid to rest at the cemetery, added that the problem was affecting the entire site.

“We pay for a service here - you don’t expect this. It’s heartbreaking. I’d move my loved ones from here if I could”

A woman whose father died last year said she had had to bail water out of his final resting place with a bucket and lay extra stones around the grave to soak up moisture, and a man tending to his mother's grave said he had lost sleep "worrying" about the water seeping out of the plot.

The group has called on Sheffield City Council to carry out the necessary drainage work to permanently resolve the flooding. Mr Tahir says a "full water table" under the vaults "must be the issue".

The council said it had installed a pump to remove water while it awaited the results of a hydrological survey. New graves were being dug on higher ground to reduce the risk of surface run-off.

Its communities, parks and leisure committee chair, councillor Kurtis Crossland, said: “Ensuring that every person in Sheffield has access to a dignified, compassionate and respectful burial is incredibly important to us at the council.

“We want to be clear that we understand the concerns within our Muslim community about the presence of water in empty graves at Shiregreen Cemetery. That is why we are working closely with community groups, having regular conversations and have already taken action to reassure our residents."