TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei's main public funeral parlor does not have enough freezers to store remains, while some have had to be temporarily placed in two ceremony halls.

Taipei Mortuary Services Office (MSO) Director Chang Shih-chang (張世昌) said that this was a last resort, adding that air conditioners and fans have been turned on in the ceremony halls of the Second Funeral Parlor where the bodies are being temporarily stored and that the waiting remains can be put into the freezers in about a day or so, CNA reported.

However, some have questioned whether the MSO’s actions are illegal. Article 24 of the Mortuary Service Administration Act states, "Independently established ceremony halls and mourning halls shall not be available for corpse processing, holding coffins, or burial ceremonies. Except for the libation and offering ceremonies, no coffins with corpses are allowed in the hall."

In response, Chang said that it is customary not to hold funerals during the Lunar New Year holiday. Coupled with temperature changes, the large elderly population, and the epidemic situation in recent years, the number of freezers was tight during the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.

At most, 80 remains were temporarily placed in the ceremony halls, but as the office has been playing catch-up, the number is currently about 20, and those will be put into the freezers soon, the director added.

The ceremony halls where the remains are temporarily placed are legally used, Chang said, adding that the office does not want to reject bodies that other places might not be able to accept, per CNA.

Chang said that the body storage fee of NT$400 (US$13.20) a day will not be charged until the body is put into a freezer. He added that some family members of the deceased who said that they paid NT$2,000 for dry ice were dealing with funeral operators directly, and the office was not involved in those transactions.