Sep 07, 2011
JEDDAH: The director general of the department responsible for providing services to Umrah pilgrims at the Ministry of Haj has asked all pilgrimage service-providing companies to liaise with embassies and consulates to identify and repatriate dead pilgrims whose bodies are still being stored in hospital morgues.
Abdul Aziz bin Asaad Damanhouri asked the companies to inform the ministry whether affected families have decided to bury their relatives in the Kingdom or repatriate their remains back home.
A committee assigned to study the problem recommended that the bodies of the pilgrims should be either handed over to the families back home or buried in the Kingdom within a maximum period of 60 days.
The committee, comprising representatives from various government departments, also recommended that the embassies or consulates of dead pilgrims should be immediately informed of deaths and asked to contact the bereaved families.
The committee said the authorities should not wait for more than two months for a response from the family. After two months the body should be buried in the Kingdom and the diplomatic mission held responsible.
The Foreign Ministry’s representative in the committee said the Ministry of Interior’s decision was communicated to all foreign diplomatic missions in the Kingdom.
The committee also asked governorates in various regions to issue monthly statistics about the bodies of foreigners in morgues.
It also asked Saudi sponsors to take full responsibility for their dead employees and called for blocking passport and Labor Ministry services for those who fail to respond to this requirement.
There are a large number of expatriates and pilgrims’ bodies in hospital morgues waiting to be claimed.
JEDDAH: The director general of the department responsible for providing services to Umrah pilgrims at the Ministry of Haj has asked all pilgrimage service-providing companies to liaise with embassies and consulates to identify and repatriate dead pilgrims whose bodies are still being stored in hospital morgues.
Abdul Aziz bin Asaad Damanhouri asked the companies to inform the ministry whether affected families have decided to bury their relatives in the Kingdom or repatriate their remains back home.
A committee assigned to study the problem recommended that the bodies of the pilgrims should be either handed over to the families back home or buried in the Kingdom within a maximum period of 60 days.
The committee, comprising representatives from various government departments, also recommended that the embassies or consulates of dead pilgrims should be immediately informed of deaths and asked to contact the bereaved families.
The committee said the authorities should not wait for more than two months for a response from the family. After two months the body should be buried in the Kingdom and the diplomatic mission held responsible.
The Foreign Ministry’s representative in the committee said the Ministry of Interior’s decision was communicated to all foreign diplomatic missions in the Kingdom.
The committee also asked governorates in various regions to issue monthly statistics about the bodies of foreigners in morgues.
It also asked Saudi sponsors to take full responsibility for their dead employees and called for blocking passport and Labor Ministry services for those who fail to respond to this requirement.
There are a large number of expatriates and pilgrims’ bodies in hospital morgues waiting to be claimed.
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