Morgue is ready for the living dead

A town council in central Turkey has taken a radical step to avoid any premature burials, equipping its morgue with an electronic warning system – just in case any of the bodies it contains show signs of life.

Each of the 36 refrigerators in the mortuary has been fitted with motion sensors. Any resurrected occupants will also be able to take advantage of interior door handles.

"The refrigerator can sense even the slightest movement of the body inside," Akif Kayadurmus, head of cemeteries in Malatya province, told the Turkish Anatolia news agency. "If the patient, proclaimed to be dead by the doctors, awakens from a state of unconsciousness, then we consider each and every possibility."

Mr Kayadarmus is the latest, and most high-tech, in a catalogue of concerned morticians. In 1792, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick ordered the lid of his future coffin to be locked, not nailed down, and a key to be placed in his pocket.

A 19th-century chamberlain to the Tsar of Russia patented a design that would raise a flag and ring a bell if any undead movement was detected. There is no proof anyone has been saved by such measures.