When death calls, it neither pays heed to time nor place of death. And with 31.2 million Indians living abroad, thousands die each year.
According to a study conducted by the Airport Health Organisation Mumbai, on an average, over 8,000 Indians die overseas every year, a figure that has been steadily growing since 2003.
But while the number is arguably in line with general trends, the ordeal it involves for the grieving family is disproportionally wide.
That was exactly the case in point when Mansfield-based Baljinder Singh’s mother Gurmit Kaur suddenly passed away during a short family visit after being diagnosed with cancer that had spread to her entire body.
The newly arrived migrant in Victoria was left with no choice but to seek out help from the community to facilitate the repatriation of his mother’s remains to India where the rest of his family was waiting. 
Brisbane-based Indian community leader Manjit Boparai who has facilitated the repatriation of at least 52 bodies from various parts of Australia to India said it is indeed an expensive affair.
Brisbane based community leader, Manjit Boparai Source: Supplied
“It can take anywhere between $10,000 to $18,000 depending on the circumstances. And in most cases, people find it difficult to arrange the funds at a short notice and more than often resort to crowdfunding like in the case of Baljinder Singh’s mother,” Mr Boparai told SBS Punjabi.
In special circumstances, help can also be sought from the Indian consulate, he added.
But that is only permissible in cases where the employer, sponsor or insurance company is unable or unwilling to do so as per the contract and the family is unable to meet the cost. ![“No one knows when they are going to die and people are generally vulnerable during [times of illness]."](https://images.sbs.com.au/drupal/yourlanguage/public/31367a65-8cae-4abe-b3e0-2438b11baf50_1548125412.jpeg?imwidth=1280)
Director and owner of Sydney–based Timmins Funeral services, Chris Timmins, told SBS Punjabi that it is not that easy to determine the cost of repatriation as it depends on a number of variables.
Representative image Source: EyeEm/Getty Images
“First and foremost are family instructions and how they want to conduct the funeral; second, where the body needs to be repatriated; third, if they want a pre-funeral service; fourth, the handling of the body; and fifth, legal formalities which includes arranging liaising with insurance companies and the consulate, arranging the documents, flight bookings and people receiving the body,” he said.
Moreover, the process of transporting remains to India is particularly fraught with complexity as arranging the documents takes relatively longer as compared to other countries.
“If everything goes well, it takes up to five to seven business days to send the body home, but in some circumstances it can even take weeks especially when one is dealing with repatriation of a person who has died of unnatural causes and investigations are ongoing to ascertain the cause of death,” said Mr Timmins.
So what to do if a relative or a friend dies abroad and you need to send the body home?
1) Inform the Indian Mission/Post around you-It is important to get the death registered for which the following documents are required, as listed by the Ministry of External Affairs.
-Medical report/death certificate issued from a hospital.
-Copy of detailed police report in case of accidental or unnatural death.
-Consent letter from next of kin for transportation.
-Copy of passport and visa pages.
-In addition, one may also need to submit clearance from local and immigration departments and arrangements for the embalming of mortal remains, etc.
-And in an event where the family decides to cremate the body in Australia and send only the ashes home,they will need to submit the certificate of cremation.
2) Your next move should be to check if the deceased was covered by insurance.
3) Hire a funeral service you can afford to facilitate the repatriation process while you deal with the grief.
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