Dumped bodies total rises to 206 in Georgia

Officials have now recovered 206 discarded bodies in the grounds of the Tri-State Crematory in Georgia.

The authorities are planning to drain a lake at the isolated site after finding a torso and a skull there yesterday. Many more bodies are thought to be hidden in the water, used by anglers until recently.

Ray Brent Marsh, 28, who ran the crematory in Noble, has so far been charged with 16 counts of theft and fraud.

Last night the authorities said they expected to be at the site for at least eight months. Gary McConnell, Georgia's state emergency coordinator, said: "We will do whatever is necessary to drain the lake but there is no reason for us to put in divers until we know it is safe. The cost is going to be staggering, but certainly not what it is to the families."

There is now a desperate struggle to identify the bodies. One family was told the urn they had been given actually held someone else's ashes, after officials found their relative's body on the 16-acre site. Only 36 sets of remains have so far been positively identified.

Dr Kris Sperry, the state's chief medical examiner, said as many as another 120 dumped corpses could be hidden in vaults discovered yesterday.