Paris market becomes makeshift mortuary
April 2, 2020
Europe's largest food market will begin storing coffins holding the bodies of people who have died from the coronavirus, as France's morticians struggle to keep up with the mounting death toll.
The refrigerated hall of the wholesale food market Rungis, located in a southern suburb of Paris of the same name, has been taken over by city authorities to be used for this purpose, Paris police announced on Thursday. Rungis is the main food market in Paris and the largest wholesale market in Europe.
The first coffins containing human remains will begin arriving at the hall on Friday. The building will accommodate between 800 and 1,000 coffins.
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Forced to take in the dead
French news agency AFP reported that Paris Police Chief Didier Lallement said the move was necessary to relive undertakers in Paris from the immense pressure they currently face. Over 4,000 people have died from coronavirus in France.
The crisis is expected to "continue for several weeks," Lallement said.
Paris "is the region of France the most affected by the coronavirus epidemic," a statement from the police said.
Starting on Monday, family members will be allowed to say goodbye to the deceased at the wholesale market, but must observe strict hygiene rules.
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Food market to remain open
Meanwhile, the market will remain open and will continue selling food.
The makeshift mortuary is located on the edge of the market and "isolated from the other pavilions," the police chief said.
The coffins will eventually be moved from the market hall to cemeteries or crematoria around France or abroad.
France is one of the EU countries the worst hit by the coronavirus.
"Rungis has been opened in the event that we reach a phase of mass death," said Richard Feret, director of CPFM, a French funeral confederation, French daily Le Parisien reported. "We are not yet at that point."