A Sunday Star-Times sweep of the country reveals thousands of unclaimed ashes are sitting in funeral parlours, waiting for collection. There are approximately 2159 sets of unclaimed ashes collecting dust in Auckland alone. ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF Funeral director Martha Louise Manning says looking at the unclaimed ashes made her feel "quite sad". DAVID WHITE/STUFF A seat at the Purewa Cemetary marks the spot where hundreds of unclaimed ashes were buried. The only thing keeping Graham from retirement is the thought of leaving so many unclaimed ashes for her son to deal with.

Source: Stuff March 16, 2019 15:56 UTC