Mass reburial of unclaimed bodies planned

PHUKET: The Kusonlatham Foundation has announced that it will exhume and rebury some 2,000 unclaimed bodies between February 7 and March 27 next year. This will be the fourth time that unclaimed bodies in Phuket have been reburied. The first time was in 1976 and the most recent was in July 1989. About half of the corpses involved in the mass reburial are Thai, the other half being those of migrant workers. The reburial will begin with four days and nights of Taoist ceremonies at the Kwangtung Cemetery on Sakdidet Rd, Phuket Town. Kusonlatham members and volunteers wishing to make merit will then exhume the 2,000 bodies from the Khao Rang Cemetery, the cemetery behind the Surakul Stadium and the Ghim Sun Cemetery in Kathu. Recently buried bodies will be cleaned of flesh – which will be cremated at the Kwangtung Cemetery – and the bones of the 2,000 corpses will then be reinterred in a mass grave in the Khao Rang cemetery. People wishing to join in will be expected to wear white clothes, eat only vegetarian food and observe strict moral discipline during the 49 days it will take to complete the operation. This will probably be the last time such a reburial will take place in Phuket. Because of a lack of space in the island’s mortuaries and cemeteries, unclaimed bodies are now cremated within a couple of days of death. Volunteers may register between now and February 1 at the Kusonlatham Foundation headquarters on Poolpol Rd. For further information, call 211706 or 246216.