By SIMON TOMLINSON
The bodies are laid out on metal blocks, victims from all walks of life lying side by side amid a stench of death in Nairobi City Mortuary.
Vehicles drove in and out, from shiny black hearses to beat-up minibuses, to fetch the dead from the attack by Somali militants on an upmarket Nairobi shopping mall.
For many families, the anguished search for loved ones missing since the siege began Saturday ended here at the central mortuary.
'There were 38 bodies, now only 16 are left,' mortuary superintendant Sammy Nyongesa Jacob told AFP.
Inconsolable: Ann Gakii (left) reacts at the Nairobi City Mortuary after identifying the body of her father, who was killed in the mall attack in Nairobi
Anguish: The Kenyan Red Cross confirmed at least 62 people had been killed, but spokesman Abbas Gullet said it was still not known how many more may be dead inside the building
The smell of decomposition wafted out of the open windows of the unrefrigerated morgue, hitting visitors as they entered the car park.
A pathologist's bloodied coat sleeve was visible through the window as attendants in white disposable overalls, face masks and latex gloves bundled another corpse into a waiting hearse.
'Yesterday we were moving around from hospital to hospital looking for him. Now we are here for the post mortem,' said Alice, widow of 63-year-old David Muthumbi Karechu, a manager at Bank of Baroda.
'I did not know where he had gone. Around five on Saturday Mum called me and asked if I had been able to get in touch with him,' recounted Karechu's eldest son, Zachary.
'It was when we were watching the news that we started to realise it was a possibility Dad had been caught up in that attack,' he said.
'We searched the whole of Saturday night and the whole of Sunday,' he told AFP, adding that his father's body had been brought in on Sunday afternoon.
Shock: Family members weep outside the Nairobi Mortuary in Nairobi as they mourn the death of loved ones
Grief: Vehicles drove in and out, from shiny black hearses to beat-up minibuses, to fetch the dead from the attack by Somali militants on the upmarket Nairobi shopping mall
'We're trying to bear with the situation,' said Jane Mwigi, a smartly dressed relative, turning away to remove her glasses and wipe the tears from her eyes.
'You go out in the morning and then you never come back,' said David Nyaboga, another Bank of Baroda manager who had come along to give support to the grieving family.
'It is certainly known that there are more casualties,' he said.
Around the corner in a garden, the family of a chauffeur named Wachiru huddled in a subdued group.
'He'd gone to the mall with the family of his boss. He was a driver,' volunteered Wachiru's youngest son, Mark.
One of his older brothers Steven, too distraught to speak, was being comforted by friends and family on a bench.
Macabre: A government official said the morgue was preparing for up to an additional 60 bodies
Agony: Zilpa, 29, views the body of her husband Thomas Abayo Italo, 33, four days after he was shot in the head by gunmen during the mall attack
Elizabeth Akinyi, the family's pastor, recounted how difficult it had been to break the news to the young man. 'Steven is such a sensitive person,' she said.
'Wachiru was a dear to everyone,' chipped in an uncle, who identified himself only as Njoroge.
A diplomatic vehicle ferried in three officials in green reflective waistcoats identifying them as embassy personnel. They appeared to be helping with formalities as the body of a British citizen was carried out to a waiting hearse.
In the car park, vendors were selling the red streamers that hearses are required to attach to their mirrors, rope for lashing a coffin to a minibus roof and flower arrangements.
In a country so often defined by its ethnic and class divisions, Kenyans seemed united in grief.
'Everyone was affected by this attack,' said Sarah Mbone, an elderly woman wearing a tie-dye shawl over a flowery dress.
'President (Uhuru) Kenyatta lost his nephew, and me, just an ordinary person, I lost my niece,' Mbone said.
'She had popped into the bank.'
Assault: Kenyan soldiers take their position at the Westgate shopping centre, on the fourth day since militants stormed into the mall in Nairobi
Evasive action: Kenyan soldiers and policemen crouch down behind a wall as they prepare for the next stage of the assault on the mall
Islamic militants who staged the deadly attack on a Kenya mall said Tuesday that hostages were alive and their fighters are 'still holding their ground', contradicting Kenyan officials' claims that they are in a final push.
Explosions rang from the mall in the morning and at midday, and gunfire could also be heard, despite the Kenyan government assurances of success. Fresh smoke was seen rising from the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi.
As the crisis continued, the morgue braced for the arrival of a large number of bodies of people killed, an official said.
A government official told The Associated Press that the morgue was preparing for up to an additional 60 bodies, though the official didn't know an exact count.
Earlier, the Kenyan Red Cross confirmed at least 62 people had been killed, but spokesman Abbas Gullet said it was still not known how many more may be dead inside the building.
FROM PERU TO INDIA, THE MALL VICTIMS CAME FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE
Died together: British architect Ross Langdon, 33, and his pregnant girlfriend Elif Yavuz who were killed in the Kenyan shopping mall massacre
BRITAIN
British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said six British deaths occurred and the number could rise.
British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said six British deaths occurred and the number could rise.
They include architect Ross Langdon (pictured, right, with his Dutch-born pregnant girlfriend, Elif Yavuz, who was also killed) andZahira Bawa and her eight-year-old daughter Jenah, from Leamington Spa in central England, a relative told Britain's Press Association news agency.
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CANADA
Annemarie Desloges, a border services liaison officer in Canada's High Commission to Kenya, 'was one of our bright young lights, and hers was a career brimming with promise,' said Tim Edwards, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
CANADA
Annemarie Desloges, a border services liaison officer in Canada's High Commission to Kenya, 'was one of our bright young lights, and hers was a career brimming with promise,' said Tim Edwards, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
She was a 29-year-old from a 'foreign service family' and had accompanied her parents on overseas postings before deciding to follow in their footsteps in 2006.
Vancouver businessman Naguib Damji also died in the attack, a daughter and niece confirmed to various media.
Two sisters from Toronto, 17-year-old Fardosa Abdi and 16-year-old Dheeman Abdi, were seriously injured.
Their aunt Hodan Hassan said from her home in Minnesota that Fardosa was in critical condition with severe leg injuries.
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CHINA
A 38-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Zhou who worked in the real estate industry was killed, state media said. Her son was injured in the attack and was in stable condition in a hospital, according to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.
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FRANCE
Two French victims of the Nairobi terrorists were named last night as Corinne Dechauffour, 54 and her daughter Anne who was 27.
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CHINA
A 38-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Zhou who worked in the real estate industry was killed, state media said. Her son was injured in the attack and was in stable condition in a hospital, according to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.
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FRANCE
Two French victims of the Nairobi terrorists were named last night as Corinne Dechauffour, 54 and her daughter Anne who was 27.
The murder of the two women who were from Nice on the French Riviera caused outrage in the southern city and in the rest of France.
The victims were gunned down in the car park of the Westgate Mall just after they had parked their car.
Distraught: Father Louis Bawa (left) is seen with his nine-year-old daughter Jennah (right). She has been confirmed as one of the British victims in the Kenya terrorist attack, in which her mother also died
GHANA
Kofi Awoonor was a Ghanaian poet, professor and former ambassador to Brazil, Cuba and the United Nations. Ghana's ministry of information said Awoonor's son was injured and is responding to treatment.
Kofi Awoonor was a Ghanaian poet, professor and former ambassador to Brazil, Cuba and the United Nations. Ghana's ministry of information said Awoonor's son was injured and is responding to treatment.
Awoonor's work drew its inspiration from the traditions of his native Ewe tribe. Ghana's poetry foundation said on its website that Awoonor went into exile after Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was driven out in a coup in 1966.
He studied at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his dissertation was published in 1975. He returned to Ghana and was later jailed for alleged involvement coup plot. His time in prison was recounted in The House by the Sea (1978), the foundation said.
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INDIA
Three Indians were killed in the attack, including an 8-year-old boy, Paramshu Jain, whose father is manager of a Nairobi branch of an Indian bank. The child's mother, Mukta Jain, is among four Indians who were injured.
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INDIA
Three Indians were killed in the attack, including an 8-year-old boy, Paramshu Jain, whose father is manager of a Nairobi branch of an Indian bank. The child's mother, Mukta Jain, is among four Indians who were injured.
The others confirmed dead by the Indian External Affairs Ministry are Sridhar Natarajan, a 40-year-old from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and Sudharshan B. Nagaraj, of the southern city of Bangalore.
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KENYA
Ruhila Adatia-Sood was a popular radio and TV personality in Kenya and her husband worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Nairobi. She was expecting a child.
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KENYA
Ruhila Adatia-Sood was a popular radio and TV personality in Kenya and her husband worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Nairobi. She was expecting a child.
Mitul Shah was president of the Bidco United football team in Kenya, Football Kenya spokesman John Kaniuki said. Shah worked for the Bidco cooking oil company and was reportedly attending a promotional cooking event with children at the mall.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's nephew and nephew's fiancee were also among the dead.
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THE NETHERLANDS
Elif Yavuz was a senior vaccines researcher for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, according to a statement from the Clinton family. 'Elif was brilliant, dedicated, and deeply admired by her colleagues, who will miss her terribly,' the Clintons said.
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THE NETHERLANDS
Elif Yavuz was a senior vaccines researcher for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, according to a statement from the Clinton family. 'Elif was brilliant, dedicated, and deeply admired by her colleagues, who will miss her terribly,' the Clintons said.
She had completed her dissertation research on malaria in eastern Africa and graduated this year from Harvard University's Department of Global Health and Population, the school said.
Yavuz, 33, was Langdon's partner and was expecting their first child in early October.
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NEW ZEALAND
Andrew McLaren, 34, a New Zealander who managed a factory in Kenya for the avocado oil company Olivado, was wounded in the attack, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
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PERU
Juan Ortiz-Iruri was a retired tropical disease specialist for UNICEF who had lived for 25 years in Africa, according to UNICEF and Peruvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Neyra.
Yavuz, 33, was Langdon's partner and was expecting their first child in early October.
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NEW ZEALAND
Andrew McLaren, 34, a New Zealander who managed a factory in Kenya for the avocado oil company Olivado, was wounded in the attack, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
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PERU
Juan Ortiz-Iruri was a retired tropical disease specialist for UNICEF who had lived for 25 years in Africa, according to UNICEF and Peruvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Neyra.
His son, Ricardo Ortiz, told Radio RPP that Ortiz-Iruri entered the mall accompanied by his daughter, a 13-year-old born in the U.S. She suffered a hand injury, but is out of danger.
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SOUTH AFRICA
One South African citizen was killed, according to the country's International Relations Department.
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SOUTH KOREA
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said one South Korean woman was among the dead. It provided no further details.
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SWITZERLAND
One Swiss citizen was injured, but the embassy would not provide further the victim's name.
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UNITED STATES
Five American citizens were injured, U.S. officials said.
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SOUTH AFRICA
One South African citizen was killed, according to the country's International Relations Department.
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SOUTH KOREA
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said one South Korean woman was among the dead. It provided no further details.
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SWITZERLAND
One Swiss citizen was injured, but the embassy would not provide further the victim's name.
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UNITED STATES
Five American citizens were injured, U.S. officials said.
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