E-Paper
Indian man dies of MERS in Saudi, family refuses to get body home
An Indian worker died in Saudi Arabia after contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and his family is reluctant to repatriate the remains back home amid fears that they might get infected if they came in contact with the body.
An Indian worker died in Saudi Arabia after contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and his family is reluctant to repatriate the remains back home amid fears that they might get infected if they came in contact with the body.
Dasharati Sattaih from Telangana, who was working in Jeddah with a leading maintenance company, contracted the virus and died on June 20 this year, the Arab News reported.
The family was informed of Sattaih’s death but was also given misleading information about the virus by relatives in India.
They reportedly warned them to be cautious as they could be infected with the disease if they touched the body, the paper said.
The employer is cooperating to repatriate the body to India but the family has refused to complete the formalities. This has led to the body lying unclaimed in a morgue, it said.
MERS is viral respiratory illness. The WHO has recorded 837 confirmed MERS infections with at least 291 deaths. Most of the cases recorded have been in Saudi Arabia.
