City woman’s body to be brought back from China

The body of a Mumbai resident, who passed away on an international flight, will be brought back today, after having been stored in a morgue in China for the past

The body of a Mumbai resident, who passed away on an international flight, will be brought back today, after having been stored in a morgue in China for the past 40 days. The body could not be transported to India due to travel restrictions that were imposed following the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic.

HT Image

On January 24, Bandra-based dentist Dr Puneet Mehra and his mother, Rita Mehra, 63, were travelling by a Melbourne-Beijing-Mumbai flight operated by Air China. During the flight, Rita went to the toilet. After 30 minutes, the crew was alerted when she didn’t come out. Rita was found unresponsive, inside. When attempts to revive her failed, the aircraft made an emergency landing at Zhengzhou, China, where she was declared dead.

“She was then taken to the morgue of the provincial hospital. I was taken to the police station for my statement and was informed they need consent from the Indian embassy and me to do an autopsy. After providing them with the necessary documentation, I was informed the autopsy would take about one month,” said Dr Mehra, who had to return to Mumbai as his wife was pregnant.

Dr Mehra had written to the Union ministry of external affairs, requesting help to recover his mother’s body from the morgue and bring it back to Mumbai. When HT contacted Parag Singhal, assistant consular at the Indian Embassy in Beijing, China, he refused to comment on the matter.

In view of the travel restrictions within China after the outbreak of coronavirus, the body was in the morgue in Zhengzhou for the past 40 days. It will be brought back on an Etihad flight from Beijing to Abu Dhabi and then Mumbai this afternoon.

(With inputs from IANS)