Pallets make coffins

BUSINESS: FUNERAL COSTS ARE SKY-HIGH IN IMPOVERISHED MOCAMBIQUE

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In a dilapidated building in Mozambique's Indian Ocean city of Beira, a dozen young men work away at handcrafting humble coffins from wooden pallets discarded by cargo ships that dock at its huge port.

Sawdust floats in the air and the sound of hammering fills the workshop where the only electric equipment - a makeshift saw and a drill - buzz intermittently as the pallets are repurposed with basic carpentry techniques.

The coffins produced in this downtown funeral parlour are cheaper than others on the market, a service for residents buckling under hikes in the cost of living which have made dealing with death more expensive, too.

An old, rusted sawmill stands unused in the corner, covered in dust and cobwebs, a relic of a time when the economy of the city 700km northeast of the capital Maputo was more robust.