New £4.4m city mortuary to open

A new state mortuary, costing £4.4m, is to open at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast next week.

It replaces one at Forster Green in the south of the city.

The mortuary will be used to carry out post mortem examinations where the cause of death is in doubt or is not known.

It contains a room with special ventilation where the bodies of people who have died with infectious diseases like hepatitis or HIV can be examined.

The ventilation - together with protective clothing - will minimise the risk to staff.

This room will also be used to examine people who have died in suspicious circumstances.

DNA

Afterwards, it can be washed down with disinfectant - to prevent DNA from one body contaminating another.

The state pathologist, Dr Jack Crane, said the mortuary would be the best in the UK.

"It's unique in the UK in that we have not only an autopsy room where we conduct our routine cases, but we have a special dedicated room to conduct high risk and suspicious deaths," he said.

About 1,500 post mortem examinations are expected to be carried out in the mortuary every year.