KARACHI: Unexplained disappearances of child corpses from a local graveyard in Karachi created panic on Saturday.

Residents of a neighbourhood in Manghopir were shocked to learn that five corpses have gone missing from the Afridi Goth graveyard, with two cases having taken place in the last 15 days.

According to residents, police suspect that an animal is stealing the corpses of children. While five corpses have gone missing in the last few months, some graves were dug up and left open.

“The graves were unpaved,” said Station House Officer (SHO) Manghopir Ghulam Hussain Korai. “An animal dug its way to the bottom and consumed the child corpses; they did not 'disappear'. Flesh and bones were also found.”

Police officials have been deployed at the graveyard to monitor the situation.

Residents say this is the first time in the 30 years since the graveyard was built that such an incident has taken place and demanded that authorities act quickly to put an end to the disappearances.