A landslide has caused hundreds of coffins to end up in the ocean on the Italian coast near Genoa.

The Camogli cemetery was built more than 100 years ago and is situated along an area of rocky seaside cliffs.

Francesco Olivari, the mayor of Camogli, called the collapse an “unimaginable catastrophe.”

#Camogli (GE), frana cimitero: prosegue da parte di specialisti #sommozzatori e nautici dei #vigilidelfuoco la ricerca e il recupero delle centinaia di bare finite in mare lunedì pomeriggio. Droni in volo per monitorare le operazioni delle squadre e l’area del crollo #24febbraio pic.twitter.com/cRFxHw0KJe

— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) February 24, 2021

Maintenance was being performed on Saturday alongside the areas of the coastline when it was stopped after workers noticed cracks in the rocks.

“We were doing work on a portion of the rocky coast - it was close to the area that fell today,” Olivari told CNN on Monday.

“Some signs of fissures were seen. We decided to close the cemetery.”

On Tuesday, officials said they will continue work on recovering the coffins and corpses.

It is estimated 200 coffins had fallen, but only 10 have been recovered.

Recovering the rest of the coffins will "depend on the sea in the coming days", according to Giacomo Giampedrone, regional assessor of civil protection.