Mariupol warns of danger of epidemics in city where thousands of corpses remain

 Local authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol have warned that it's vulnerable to epidemics given the appalling sanitary conditions in much of the city and the fact that maybe thousands of bodies remain uncollected.

An estimated 100,000 people still live in the city, despite weeks of heavy fighting, and the absence of a centralized water supply.

On Thursday, the city council said there was a risk of cholera, dysentery and Escherichia coli -- a bacterial infection that can cause severe stomach pain, bloody diarrhea and kidney failure.

The council said there were intolerable living conditions that would worsen as temperatures warmed.

"Already the air temperature has reached 20 degrees. So powerful and deadly epidemics could soon break out in the city -- due to the lack of centralized water supply and sanitation, the decomposition of thousands of corpses under the rubble, and a catastrophic shortage of drinking water and food."

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko said: "The occupiers cannot provide the existing population with food, water and medicine. Or [are] just not interested in it. They block all evacuation attempts. And without that, people will die. After all, now in the ruined Mariupol medieval living conditions. Immediate and complete evacuation is needed."