ZARZIS, Tunisia — For the Libyan coastal town of Zuwara, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Tunisian border, people smuggling — a lucrative and widespread business — is starting to leave its marks. Here, on the city’s 85-kilometer strip of beach, the large number of corpses of washed-ashore refugees, who were hoping to reach Europe for a better life, is becoming increasingly disturbing for the city’s locals.

“People deserve a dignified end,” said one of Zuwara’s locals. Waled, who declined to reveal his real name for safety concerns, is the first person in the city to take care of the corpses that wash ashore. He can’t recount how many bodies he has witnessed thus far. “Too many,” he told Al-Monitor. Most of them are men between the ages of 20 and 35, from countries such as Sudan, Nigeria and Syria. It is impossible to estimate how many bodies he has buried; often, there are as many as two bodies per day, he said.

Waled, 27, studied to become a veterinarian in Tripoli but returned to Zuwara last year. He quickly realized that his skills were far more needed on the shores of Zuwara than with the city’s pets. Today, as soon as locals see a body that has washed ashore, they call Waled — everybody in the area knows about his work. He was taught forensic inspection while at university, and now he carefully takes care of the bodies. He identifies victims by taking their photos and gives them dignified ends by burying them; at the same time, he makes sure there isn’t any risk of contagious infections for him or the people who have been in contact with the bodies.

Most of the bodies that Waled encounters carry some sort of identification card. In desperate attempts to keep their loved ones informed, those making the crossing often write down their names and families' contact details on the life vests. The identification process is important, but for those without identification cards it gets trickier. In Waled’s archive of bodies, he documents DNA samples and specific identifying information such as tattoos or birth marks, in addition to sex, estimated age and skin color. Family members of those missing contact Waled for information about a relative’s fate, upon which he compares his descriptions and photos of the bodies he encountered. Thanks to his efforts they sometimes have a grave to turn to. Today, there are two cemeteries in Zuwara; the original one is in central Zuwara, while the second one is 40 kilometers south of Zuwara. Volunteers who assist Waled dug out the graves.