Gov't apologizes for cremating victims of landslide

ZHENXIONG, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities in southwest China's Yunnan Province have apologized to the families of 46 landslide victims for cremating the bodies without their approval, a rescue official said Monday.

The Zhenxiong County government has also ordered the local civil affairs bureau and funeral parlor to make a formal admission of error over the cremation.

A spokesman with the rescue and disaster relief headquarters in Zhenxiong County said the cremations were carried out over fears that the bodies might spread disease if left in the open for a long time.

Zhou Chengwu, a manager with the county's funeral parlor, said the bodies had to be handled within 24 hours due to limited facilities.

Zhou said the funeral parlor, founded in 1979, was undergoing renovations and they had to rent freezers to store the remains. "All we could get were six or seven freezers, which was far from enough," he said.

Many of the bodies retrieved from the mud were badly damaged, which could have triggered more psychological pain if the families saw them, the spokesman said.

The unauthorized cremations triggered protests from about 40 family members of landslide victims.

People gathered along the road to the landslide rescue and disaster relief headquarters on Sunday night, blocking the passage of dozens of vehicles, a county official Zhu Henghui said Monday.

The crowd did not disperse until 2 a.m. Monday, Zhu said.

As of 7 p.m., no more protestors had gathered.