Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — In a tragic case of mistaken identity, an expatriate worker’s dead body was wrongly repatriated to another country.

The goof-up came to light when the relatives of a victim of a fatal road accident, who were waiting for his body at Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar on Saturday, received the mortal remains of someone else.

It all started at the mortuary in a hospital in the Eastern Province when a person not related to the family identified the wrong corpse for repatriation to Pakistan, according to community sources.

The family at Peshawar airport was waiting for the body of Nizamullah, a driver working in the Eastern Province, who died in a traffic accident in Dammam about a week ago.

When the coffin arrived in Peshawar, the relatives of Nizamullah were shocked to find the body of some other person. They refused to accept the body. So it was flown back to the Kingdom.

It was discovered later that the body that was mistakenly sent to Pakistan was that of a Bangladeshi national.

Now the authorities are working to repatriate the “right” body.

However, the cost of double repatriation is posing a problem as the sponsor is not willing to bear additional cost, as he had paid for repatriation once.

The airline charged SR1,833 to fly back the dead body to the Kingdom. The expenses were borne by some community members with the hope that Pakistan Embassy or the sponsor would reimburse it.

Pakistan Embassy is working to repatriate the body of Nizamullah in a day or two, a senior diplomat told Saudi Gazette on Monday.