The recent heatwave that claimed dozens of lives across Quebec has also resulted in overcrowding in Montreal’s morgue.
According to a La Presse report, the coroner’s office has been forced to make an agreement with a funeral home to house some of the remains due to the situation.
Jean Brochu, the coroner in Montreal, said a large amount of the 128 available spots in the morgue are permanently occupied by unclaimed bodies.
Throughout the heat wave, public officials warned that elderly people who lived alone were at increased risk. Brochu said many of the bodies examined by his team in recent days were in an advanced state of decay, having sometimes spent up to two days in the heat before being found.
All deaths associated with the heat wave are considered “traumatic” and under coroner’s investigation.
