City buries 500 unclaimed corpses

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration buries some 500 unclaimed corpses at the government-run Pondok Rangon cemetery in East Jakarta each year, an official said.

A staff member at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's morgue, Mardiyono, said on Friday the government covered all the expenses for the burials.

"The expenses include rental fees for the burial plots, fees for ambulance rentals and costs for burial services," he said.

He said each corpse was buried in its own grave, and the burial plot was reused to bury a new corpse after a period of three years.

Burials could take place between two to three times a week, he said.

Mardiyono also said the morgue sometimes buried corpses which were claimed by families who were too poor to pay for the burial.

"We cannot refuse to bury a corpse because of humanitarian principles. Besides, we cannot keep a body in the morgue," he said.

As part of a general hospital, the morgue receives a number of corpses each day. If a corpse is not claimed within two days, the morgue will perform a postmortem examination and then bury the body.

Mardiyono said if someone came to claim a corpse after the burial, the morgue would dig up the grave and return the body to the family.

"Before doing so, the family must prove the corpse was really their relative," he said. (04)