Burials at sea boom in Hong Kong as cemeteries fill up

Mar 25, 2010, 3:58 GMT

Hong Kong - Hong Kong mourners are queuing to scatter relatives' ashes at sea as the city struggles to cope with a chronic shortage of burial plots, officials said Thursday.

Hundreds of families have taken advantage of a free government boat service launched in February enabling them to scatter the ashes of loved ones at sea.

Ten families at a time are are taken out on the weekly boat trips from Hong Kong island which can be booked in advance and go to a pre-arranged stretch of sea where ashes can be solemnly scattered.

A government spokesman said Thursday the service had proved very popular and might be expanded if demand for it continues to grow. A decades-long ban on scattering ashes at sea was lifted in 2007.

The move is one of a number of measures taken to try to ease the huge queues for burial plots in the high-rise city of 7 million which is one of the most densely populated in the world.

Burial plots are often more expensive than luxury properties and there is also a severe under-supply of facilities to house the ashes of cremated people.

The Hong Kong government plans to open an online cemetery where tribute pages can be bought in memory of loved ones while ashes are stored in urns at their families' homes.