Sreejith ensures mortal remains reach their loved ones without hassles

Kochi: It was a busy Wednesday for Sreejith K H, of Nochima in Aluva, who has been running an agency that airlifts the mortal remains of Indians dying abroad and bringing them back into the country via Kochi. He had to airlift 15 bodies from Kochi to Delhi, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad.On Wednesday, his cadaver transport agency ‘On Time' handled the highest number of bodies in a single day. "I have been running the firm for 15 years. There were days when several bodies were brought from abroad during the pandemic and had to be shifted to various domestic destinations. But this was the first time our firm shifted these many bodies in a single day," Sreejith said."Airline companies, except IndiGo, insisted that clearance from local police was needed to carry the bodies on their flights, despite clearances from all agencies, including emigration department. So, we had to depend entirely on Indigo to shift the bodies to airports near their homeplaces. Otherwise, we would have completed transporting the bodies by Wednesday evening. We have already shifted some bodies. The remaining ones will be transported by Thursday noon. We had to keep eight bodies in the mortuary of a private hospital in Aluva," he added.Normally, most cadavers are transported from Kochi to destinations like Kolkata and Guwahati. "The bodies of migrant workers from West Bengal, Assam and Bihar are generally airlifted. Up to 20 bodies would be transported from Kochi via flights to Kolkata and Guwahati every month," Sreejith said. "In the case of bodies of NRIs, it is mostly from Gulf countries. We also airlift bodies of foreigners, who died while they visited India. The highest number of bodies of foreigners transported from Kochi are those from Oman. Some of them would be under treatment in various hospitals in Kerala," he added.The bodies should be boarded four hours prior to flight take-off. All certificates and clearances, including NOC from emigration department, customs clearance, embalm certificate and death certificate, should be in place, he said.