Austrian crematorium officials have blamed a deceased woman's obesity for causing a blaze which had to be tackled by firefighters.
  Firemen in the southern city of Graz were covered in thick sticky soot as they tried to prevent the blaze from taking hold of the building

  Some countries such as Switzerland and the UK already have facilities which cater for extra large bodies, in line with the growing trend of expanding waistlines.

  Speaking to the Daily Mail online, funeral director Christea Bogdan, of Gillman Undertakers, Tooting, south London, said he had never before in his career heard of such an event.

  'I have never come across such a case,' he said.

  An expert report on the Austria fire has revealed that the woman being cremated weighed more than 200kg - or 31st 7lbs - and her size had caused the oven to overheat.

  The press reports state that the filter temperature reached 300C and officials realised there was a problem when thick black smoke started billowing into the building.

  The device was immediately switched off but by then there was already a fire in the filter.

  Firemen whose clothing was left covered with a layer of greasy black soot were snapped as they tackled the difficult to extinguish blaze in special breathing gear to avoid breathing in the fumes.

  In the end they had to bring the fire under control by sending a blast of water in through the vents used to clear the filter. Repair work took several days during which time the crematorium was out of action.

  Firemen said that after reports of similar problems at other cemeteries not only in Austria but also in Switzerland, officials were now are considering a ban on larger bodies.

  Graz-based fireman Otto Widetschek said: 'Crematorium officials need to be more responsible and not just automatically put everybody in to be cremated.'

  He said that in Switzerland there were moves now to make sure that XXL bodies were routinely shipped to a special crematorium able to deal with the extra heat caused by larger bodies.

  奥地利格拉茨市火葬场日前发生火灾，出动消防队才将大火扑灭，导致火灾的原因竟然是一名超级肥胖的女性死者。

  据英国《每日邮报》5日报道，这名死者体重超过200公斤，因为她体内脂肪过多，导致焚化炉温度不断攀升，最终酿成火灾。火葬场负责人表示，在焚化该死者时，焚化炉温度升至摄氏300℃。随后，滚滚黑烟从焚化炉喷出，操作间发生大火。火葬工立即关闭了焚化设施，但大火已经失控，火葬场不得不拨打火警求救。

  及时赶到的消防队员配备了特殊防护面具及防护服，几经周折后选择从通风口灌水灭火，好不容易才控制住火势。消防队员的防护服上沾满了油脂燃烧后的黑烟灰。据估计，焚化炉的维修需要数天时间。

  当地消防队员奥托说：“火葬场应对此负责，不能不加区分地将所有死者随意推入焚化炉。”也有人呼吁设置火葬死者的体重上限。据悉，不少欧洲国家专门为肥胖死者提供超大号焚化炉。