Madrid's mortuary offers condolences via text-message

London, Oct 1 : A mortuary in Madrid has come up with a unique idea of paying condolences to the family of a departed person while away - via text-message.

The idea, which originated with a time saving thought in mind, was designed for those who cannot go in person to the mortuary to offer their condolences.

The method works with the M30 mortuary publishing a list daily in the local newspapers of those who have died in Madrid, and advertising the automatic service, which allows condolences to be delivered to grieving families through a mobile phone.

The system is similar to that used to contact TV reality shows.

In this case, each deceased person gets a code number, which must be included along with the text message and the keyword pesame (condolence), which is sent to a designated four-digit number.

In the list, which appeared on September 30 in the Madrid edition of El Mundo, included the names of 29 people who had died on September 29.

The texts are charged at the rate of 1.20 euros plus VAT, and the messages are either sent straight to a mobile or go to the mortuary, which hands them on.

The mortuary's marketing manager, Jos Salvador, said messages were filtered so that nothing hurtful or tactless reached relatives.

"It makes things easier for people who are far away or do not know how to contact the family," the Guardian quoted Salvador as saying.

ANI