SCOTTISH Government officials are preparing to buy hundreds of inflatable body storage tents in preparation for mass deaths in a flu pandemic.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal officials and police have been in talks with a major manufacturer of the tents, known as "bouncy castle mortuaries", in an attempt to cope with the death of 64,000 Scots from the virus.
The documents also reveal funeral services would have to be cut short because of sheer demand. An investigation of mortuaries across the country has revealed a shortage of body storage space if a pandemic should occur, with a maximum of 2,513 spaces.
Experts say Scotland's crematoriums could not cope with the demand of disposing of thousands of dead and temporary body storage would be essential.
Health experts predict a global epidemic of a deadly new strain of bird flu in humans will strike at some point in the future.
The current strain of H5N1 avian influenza has killed more than 200 people. So far it is limited to a handful of countries including Indonesia and Vietnam but there are fears it could spread quickly across the globe if it is not contained.
In June Scottish Government officials met representatives from a firm which manufactures inflatable tents for body storage.
E-mail exchanges and letters reveal officials and police are impressed with a mobile "body storage system" made by Airegroup, for use in disasters. It has been used by the US military and uses a generator to keep bodies at a cool temperature so that they do not decompose.
Police and local authorities across Scotland have now been told to consider purchasing the equipment or consider taking part in trials of new prototypes so that they could purchase the equipment at a cheaper rate. The units cost around £10,000 and can store up to 50 bodies.
Trials could involve storing dead animals from veterinary hospitals.
One e-mail, from Alastair MacDonald, policy analyst at the Scottish Government's Civil Contingencies Unit, to Derek Robertson at the Scottish Police Services Authority in June, discusses the tent. It states: "The product is very much a concept just now. We will be asked to assist in testing the prototypes then will be offered a discount on sales when in production."
Officials are anxious to avoid burying Scots in mass burial sites because of "severe distress" it would cause.
Another Scottish Government document states that relatives may have to hold shorter funerals because of the "rapid disposal of the dead".
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the work had been prepared so that local Strategic Coordinating Groups could decide how to plan for a pandemic.
