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Catacombs may be used for bodies of swine flu victims
Saturday, 25 July 2009
A city council is considering using 19th century underground burial chambers to store the bodies of swine flu victims if the outbreak worsens, it was confirmed today.
Exeter City Council has identified the empty catacombs, currently used as a tourist attraction, as a potential mortuary.
A council spokesman said it could turn to the plan if the crematorium and cemeteries could not keep up with funeral demands.
He said: "We have some empty catacombs in an old cemetery in the city. These are 19th century underground burial chambers which are normally a tourist attraction.
"They can, however, be safely used for their original purpose and allow us to temporarily store bodies in the remote possibility that the need should arise."
Figures released last night revealed 72 people suffering swine flu were receiving hospital treatment in Devon and Cornwall and last week around 2,000 people in the region went to their doctors complaining of symptoms.
The World Health Organisation said 160 countries were now affected by swine flu, and around 800 people have died worldwide.
At least 30 have died in the UK after contracting the virus.
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Oh no swine flu!!!!!!!.8000 people a year die from normal flu...how many have died so far in the uk from swine flu? answer..not that many.if we put as much emphasis on normal flu we would all live in a bubble.Please stop scaremongering.oh no !I just sneezed! Get over it please and stop all this needless worry!
Posted by ChrisM | 26.07.09, 01:12 GMT
I do with the BT would refrain from joining in what appears to be global hysteria over Swine Flu! It is all (if you will pardon the pun) HOGWASH!
If one does a little research the BBC tells it thus:
"In 1990 came the scare over vCJD from beef. We were warned that thousands of people might die. And tens of thousands of cows were destroyed to stop the spread of BSE--the bovine version of vCJD. The final death toll from vCJD stands at 164. In 2002 we had a global panic about Sars--a disease described in parts of the media as probably worse than Aids. It caused 774 deaths worldwide. In the flap over bird flu in 2006 we were told that one in four Britons might die. In fact the global death toll was 257."
So swine flu might be bad... BUT... are you or I really likely to be affected? If we are, we will probably be very unlucky. It is fact that most times we (that is people in general) overreact. Let common sense prevail and stop this sensationalism PLEASE!
Posted by Centaur | 25.07.09, 21:16 GMT
Let get this in perspective, there have been 800 deaths out of how many millions of people world wide who have had this flu. The media have finished with MP's expenses, Parliment is in recess and there is little news about. It's the silly season so they start to talk up swine flu. Catacombs as mortuaries , what next ,red crosses on the doors of the infected, cries of "Bring out your dead" as the death carts trundle to the burial pits in the Botanic gardens.
For goodness sake get a titter of wit, look at the statistics, you have more chance of getting kicked to death by a camel than dying of swine flu
Posted by Sam | 25.07.09, 19:24 GMT