Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — The body of Pakistani expatriate Nizamullah, which was swapped with that of another expatriate due to mistaken identity, was finally repatriated home. Family members received the body on Tuesday and buried at his native place in Khyber Pakthunkhwa on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
Instead of Nizamullah, the body of a Bangladeshi national was wrongly sent to Pakistan. It was returned to Dammam on Saturday after family members noticed the mistake and refused to accept the body.
The body was repatriated with the help of concerned Saudi authorities, Pakistan Embassy and airline companies, Pakistani social worker Niaz Mohammed Munshi, who coordinated the repatriation process, told Saudi Gazette.
The cost of repatriation was borne by Munshi after Nizamullah's employer declined to bear the expenses for a second time, the social worker said.
Nizamullah was from a poor family and his relatives could not even afford international calls to Saudi Arabia to check on the status of the repatriation. not to speak of the costs of transportation of the body, said family sources.
Nizamullah worked as truck driver and was killed in a road accident in Dammam.
The Bangladeshi's body was returned to Dammam after completing legal procedures. The airline charged SR1,833 for bringing back the body to Kingdom, which also was paid by Munshi. He hoped that the Pakistan Embassy or Nizamullah's sponsor would reimburse him.
The goof-up started at the mortuary in a local hospital when a person not related to the family identified the wrong corpse.