San Diego County hopes to replace overflow morgue
San Diego County officials were expected to break ground today on an $85 million forensics building that will allow coroner officials to stop using a refrigerated truck to store bodies.
The truck parked outside the county morgue in Kearny Mesa since 2003 is used when the facility exceeds its capacity of 82 bodies, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Up to 40 bodies can be kept inside the truck, which is parked in the morgue's parking lot and emits a foul odor, the newspaper reported. The morgue is located within the county operations center on Overland Avenue, not far from Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. It was built in 1963.
The new forensics building will feature room for up to 200 bodies and be equipped with newer technology for toxicology, DNA testing and X-Ray imaging, the Union-Tribune reported.
It is expected to open in November 2009.
—From news services