There is a bit of debate online about the question at hand. There appears to be two dead bodies on the table in front of the group of standing men. But whether or not the men in the coffins are dead or alive is in question. They don't appear to have rigor mortis. If they are dead, it could mean they are fresh corpses or else they have been there a while (and embalmed already) as rigor mortis goes away after a time. If this were the case then they would look to be examples of the embalmer's work on display.
The photograph was staged. You can find detailed analysis here if you scroll down to video # 15.
