29 Jan 2019

Cemetery's unclaimed ashes face uncertain future

6:33 pm on 29 January 2019

A cemetery north of Wellington is looking for family members to collect more than 20 containers of unclaimed ashes.

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Photo: 123RF

Whenua Tapu Cemetery and Crematorium said it received most of the ashes in the mid-2000s, when a funeral home closed. Others dated from the late 1990s.

Manager Jon King said many funeral homes and crematoriums had to deal with unclaimed ashes.

He said it was often difficult to find relatives because they had moved without providing contact details.

Any ashes that cannot be reunited with family members will be buried at Whenua Tapu.