A funeral home in China has started using sophisticated 3D printing technology to create missing body parts for damaged corpses.

The Longhua Funeral Parlour in Shanghai set up its printing studio to repair bodies which may have been disfigured in fires or accidents, or even to make the dead person appear better-looking than they were in life.

"It is difficult for relatives to see incomplete faces or bodies of their loved ones when they attend memorial services, and makeup cannot always sufficiently repair them," Liu Fengming, an official with the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center, affiliated with the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, told Shanghai Daily.

Bereaved families would be charged between 4,000 and 5,000 yuan (around £430 - £530) for a facial recreation, according to CRIEnglish.

3D printing creates an object by 'printing' layer upon layer of plastic over several hours.