Official closure of coronavirus morgue at Spain ice rink

Spanish authorities held a ceremony to mark the closure of a makeshift morgue for COVID-19 victims which had been operating at Madrid's Palacio de Hielo ice rink since March 24.

The temporary morgue was set up by the Spanish military as the capital's morgue was running out of space and the daily death rate skyrocketed into the hundreds.

The ice rink has held a total of 1,145 bodies of new coronavirus victims during its four-week operations.

The military transferred bodies to the rink on a daily basis.

All the bodies had been removed by Wednesday, when it was shuttered by authorities.

"We were not able to save their lives, but let it be known that our Armed Forces have not left them alone for one minute," Spain's Defense Minister Margarita Robles said during an act to close the facility.

Madrid still has one makeshift morgue in an unoccupied government building.

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