STORY: This is what’s left of Cairo’s City of the Dead.

It’s where many of Egypt’s most prominent families bury their loved ones, with tombs and artefacts dating back to the seventh century A.D.

But the UNESCO World Heritage Site has become one big construction site in recent months as the government makes way for new highways.

Thousands of graves have been ripped up, and that’s forced tomb owners like Hisham Kassem to transfer the bodies of their family members.

“We are standing in the graveyard where my mother is buried, along with my grandmother, her father, and many of my family members.”

Kassem says he quickly came to the grave after seeing bodies being exhumed on social media.

He was told a few days ago to get ready to move his family’s bodies to a new spot – which he compared to a warehouse for bones rather than a cemetery.

“I found out from the man who manages the graveyard, we aren’t able to communicate with anyone from the government, and I don’t know who is in charge of this project.”

One academic researcher Reuters spoke to estimated that 75% of the cemetery will eventually be removed.

The government says it has no intention of destroying monuments designated as historic.

But only 102 sites among more than 2.5 million tombs in the area have received this designation, according to conservationists.

UNESCO says the area should be preserved – and that it will examine the case in September 2023.