A Taichung man surnamed Wang who died after an automobile accident last week could not be cremated because crematoriums do not have incinerators large enough for a man his size. He weighed more than 110kg and the intravenous drip administered to him when he was rescued caused his body to swell. His relatives and friends were extremely critical about being left with no other option but to bury the body, asking whether fat people were supposed to have their bodies chopped in half to get cremated?
When the family visited various crematoriums in Greater Taichung’s Dajia District and other areas in Taichung to make inquiries, they discovered the average crematorium incinerator was only 65 to 75cm wide, so they had no other choice but to have him interred since there was no way the body could fit inside an incinerator.
The family of the deceased complained they would have to bury him, perform a traditional rite known as jiangu, or picking up the bones, and that everything would cost around NT$200,000 more than having him cremated. It is unreasonable that the government encourages people to cremate the dead, yet crematoriums are unable to meet public demand as the corpulent population continues to expand.
Photo: AFP
照片： 法新社
When local residents told Greater Taichung Councilor Yu Pi-ling about the situation, she said she will make a proposal suggesting that the city government build bigger incinerators so that overweight people will not have to worry about not being taken care of when they die.
Greater Taichung’s Mortuary Services Office Director Lai Jung-yu said that there are 12 incinerators in Taichung, four in Dajia District, and that all of them adhere to the same 190cm-long, 65cm-wide, 50cm-tall specifications.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY KYLE JEFFCOAT)
台中市上週王姓男子車禍死亡，因體重達一百一十多公斤，加上急救時注射大量點滴，導致身體腫脹，火葬場的火化爐無法容納致無法火化，被迫改為土葬，家屬及親友痛批，難道要胖子死後剖成兩半才能火化？
Photo: Yang Pei-hua, Taipei Times
照片：自由時報記者楊培華
但家屬跑遍台中大甲區及台中其他地區的火葬場詢問，卻發現一般火葬場火化爐寬僅六十五到七十五公分，根本容納不下，只好改為土葬。
家屬抱怨土葬必須建墳，將來還得撿骨，且費用較火葬高出近新台幣二十萬元。政府鼓勵民間火葬，肥胖的人也愈來愈多，但火葬場的規格卻無法符合民眾需求，非常不合理。
居民十三日向市議員尤碧鈴陳情，尤碧鈴表示，將提案建議市府興建較大的火化爐，讓較胖的民眾「死無後顧之憂」。
台中市生命禮儀管理所長賴榮裕表示，台中市的火葬場總共有十二座火化爐、大甲火葬場有四座，皆統一規格，長一百九十公分、寬六十五公分、高五十公分。
（自由時報記者歐素美）
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