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August 22, 2003/Av 24 5763, Vol. 55, No. 52
Heat wave fills French morgues
PHILIP CARMEL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
PARIS - With France sizzling under 100-degree temperatures this month, Parisian Jewish organizations have struggled to cope as unburied corpses have had to wait up to four days for Jewish burial.
According to the Paris Consistoire, the principal organization dealing with the religious needs of the community, the Jewish death rate has almost tripled since a record heat wave began in early August.
Jacques B'Chiri, head of the Consistoire burial board, told JTA that the Consistoire was handling around 30 burials a day, considerably higher than the 10 to 15 per day that is the average for this time of year.
"The situation is very difficult indeed," B'Chiri said. "We have bodies waiting days for burial, and there's nothing we can do about it."
At the Pantin cemetery in northern Paris, the largest in the region that has a sizeable Jewish section, Jewish funeral directors said their companies were conducting burials every 15 minutes.
"Usually there's at least an hour gap between funerals. I've never seen anything like this," said Philippe Hay, a funeral organizer from Benhamou burial services. "People call us and we tell them that they have to wait a minimum of three days. Sure, it's not easy for them."
B'Chiri said that hospitals were struggling with the number of bodies in morgues, "which were piled up in such a way that we can't always get to them quick enough."
"The cold storage morgues in the hospitals are full. The government said it's going to bring in special plastic rooms to hold up to 100 bodies, but we're still waiting for that," he said.
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