Sea burial is catching on but ships are lacking

By Lu Feiran | March 22, 2012, Thursday |

Online Edition

DEMAND for sea burial is outpacing the capacity of available ships. The Shanghai Funeral and Interment Association said more than 400 families have applied for sea burial in recent months and many have to wait until next year.

"The number of Shanghai families applying for sea burial is growing by 8 percent a year," said Wang Hongjie, director of the association. "But we only have three ships that go out to the sea at the weekend."

He said the association used to have a ship capable of holding 800 people. But after that ship retired, they have not been able to find new ships with similar capacity.

"As ferry business is declining in Shanghai, it is increasingly difficult to find large ferry boats," said Wang.

He also said that as the sea burial service is not for profit and government subsidy is very low, the association couldn't afford ship maintenance and fuel oil if sea burials are held more frequently.

Metro

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Sea burial is catching on but ships are lacking

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