THE number of unidentified bodies kept at the Phoenix Medico-Legal Mortuary has increased to 57, however, not all those deaths are unrest-related.

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has emphasized that while the 500-body capacity mortuary may be close to full, it did not mean that all the bodies kept at the facility were related to deaths that occurred during the violent unrest in the province last week.

She said there were 350 bodies at the Phoenix mortuary before the looting and riots.

The Phoenix mortuary is a new facility and the biggest in the province with a capacity of 500 shelves. The mortuary keeps bodies from across the province.