By Fu Jing and Xin Zhiming (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-17 09:06

HANWANG, Sichuan - As high temperatures and humidity persist here, rescuers and doctors are urgently removing bodies before they decay and cause epidemic outbreaks.

Those charged with the gruesome task of managing the bodies said the numbers of mosquitoes and flies had already markedly increased.

The sunny weather forecast for the weekend is expected to increase risks to the health of survivors.

"The smell is terrible," Zeng Deyu, a worker at the Mianzhu mortuary that has jurisdiction over Hanwang, said.

"While rescuers continue their work, we must take responsibility for the environment for the living."

After Tuesday's rain and Wednesday's sunshine, the air has grown moist, which has led to corpses decaying more rapidly.

Diao Yichang, Party secretary of the technical school affiliated to the Dongfang Steam Turbine Plant, said: "The air is starting to smell very bad."

Thirty of the 600 students at the technical school were killed when it collapsed.

"The area is very dirty. There are decaying bodies everywhere and mosquitoes are swarming," Diao said.

Following warnings from experts that such unsanitary conditions can spark disease outbreaks, many rescuers are now wearing facemasks.

Compounding the problem is the fact the town's sole mortuary has been destroyed.

Zeng and his colleagues have been working to identify the dead hauled in by soldiers, rescue workers and locals.

Families of the dead are allowed to take away their loved ones for burial. If bodies are not claimed, they are sent elsewhere for cremation. Families' who consent to this method are able to accompany their lost loved ones to ensure they are properly treated.

"The process began the day after the quake," Zeng said.

Many of the bodies pulled from the ruins of the Dongfang factory have been buried in a mass grave, a rescue worker who declined to give his name, said.