Bodies Doubled-Up on Trays at Illinois Morgue

An Illinois morgue's cooler is getting so crowded that bodies are being doubled-up on trays, according to Chicago's CBS affiliate.

The Cook County medical examiner says the backup has to do with a number of deaths at the end of the year.

"We had this huge upswing in deaths right at the end of the year, and with the holidays being on Saturdays, it really created a backlog because the funeral directors weren't coming in," Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Nancy Jones told WBBM Newsradio.

Jones tells the CBS affiliate a mass county burial is scheduled for next week, which will free up space at the morgue.

"We do have a fair number of bodies, but it has had more bodies in it at other times."

The last time the Cook County morgue was backed up like this was during the 1995 heat wave.