3:17pm UK, Thursday October 30, 2003

An overstretched morgue is to hold a mass burial in an attempt to cope with the number of corpses.

The Port Moresby General Hospital morgue in Papua New Guinea is struggling to deal with its 160 bodies even though its capacity is only 60.

Chief executive Dr Alphonse Tay said the morgue is receiving 14 new bodies each day with only six taken away for burial over the same period.

He said: "It costs about 1,000 Kina (£19) for a body to be prepared in a funeral home and people can't afford that.

"The average wage in Port Moresby is about 300 Kina (£6) in a fortnight.

"People delay collecting bodies while they try to raise money. Some forget the bodies are in the morgue."