Close to 2,000 dead expats repatriated home in 2014

Suad Al-Shamrani Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — As many as 1,938 bodies of expatriate workers were transported to their respective countries last year for burial, according to the Forensic Medicine Center in Riyadh. Dr. Abdulrahman Bin Hamid Al-Malki, the center's assistant director general for administrative affairs, did not give a breakdown of the workers by their religion or nationality and also did not say whether they included Muslims or not. He said under the country's system, the employers who do not cooperate or who may delay the procedures of repatriating the bodies of their dead workers would not be granted recruitment visas any more. He asked the employers and the sponsors to expedite the procedures for sending bodies home and urged them never to slacken in this work. "Conforming to the Health Ministry's slogan that good treatment does not need resources, the center's employees are providing all out services to the relatives of the dead to expedite their transport," he said. Al-Malki said the private rights of the heirs of the dead will depend on whether the cause of death is criminal, natural or suspicious. "We are therefore committed to serving the families and relatives of the dead as quickly as we can," he added. "We are intent on making it easy for the families to complete the procedures of washing and embalming of the bodies so as to bury them quickly in the Kingdom or send them back home," he said. Al-Malki explained that the conditions for transporting dead bodies outside include, among others, filling a special application form for transport, obtaining a certificate of stuffing, securing a death certificate and burial permit, making airline reservation, paying the embalming fees and obtaining the approval of the worker's embassy. He said the cost of embalming was increased to SR4,000 from SR3,000. Al-Malki said the cargo company, which will transport the body home, will bear the cost of transporting it from the embalming center to the airport and will also pay the cargo charges.