Indian woman's body in Saudi morgue for two months

The body of a 51-year-old Indian housemaid, who died more than two months ago due to illness, is still lying unclaimed in a morgue in Riyadh as authorities has not been able to complete the necessary formalities to repatriate the body.
Saraswathy Kalappara from Kerala died on March 28 in King Fahd Medical City and the post-mortem report cited "cardio-respiratory arrest due to illness of unknown etiology" as the reason.
Her two sons and legal heirs then sent a power of attorney to the Indian Embassy on April 1 authorising it to do whatever was needed to repatriate their mother's body to India, the Arab News reported today.

However, till now, the Embassy has not been able to complete the necessary formalities and issue a no objection certificate (NOC), the paper said.
Both the deceased woman's sons had declared that they had no doubts regarding her death and did not want any compensation from her sponsor, it said.
When members of the Federation of Kerala Associations in Saudi Arabia (FOKASA) met the sponsor, Anwar Al Mantub Rokan Al Murshid, he said that Saraswathy had absconded soon after her arrival in May 2012 but he did not declare her a runaway worker.
Now, two FOKASA members have met Sibi George, deputy chief of mission in the Indian embassy in Riyadh, and requested him to issue the NOC and pay for the cost of transporting the body from the Indian Community Welfare Fund of the embassy.

Following consultation with Embassy staff, George has said that the necessary paperwork will be done and the embassy will bear the cost of transportation of the body, the report said.