A family in Mombasa is mourning the sudden death of their kin who collapsed and died aboard a Chinese ship.
A report by The Standard on Monday, January 28, indicated that the deceased, Yunus Beku, was part of a crew aboard the ship nearing Singapore waters.
He passed away on Monday, June 21, but three countries including Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka denied the ship access to offload the body for repatriation.
The Managing Director of Mombasa Ocean, vessel's local handling agents, Did Musa stated that he reached out to the three countries but they declined his request.
He further noted that the ship reached out to Mauritius which agreed to help repatriate the dead body.
"The master of the vessel, Sun Mas Lung alerted Singapore authorities of what had transpired and requested to be allowed to move to shore to discharge the dead body for safe repatriation back to Kenya but was denied permission.
"We are in touch with the vessel master and crew and already it has embarked on a sea cruise journey to Mauritius that has agreed to allow the vessel to dock in their island state," stated Musa.
The family of the late disclosed that they were shocked with the news of the demise noting that he had fulfilled all the medical requirement before the trip began.
"We are in shock as to what might have killed him suddenly in a far-flung nation. We are waiting for the body to inter it as per Islamic traditions," Beku's mother-in-law Magdalene Malemba stated.
Musa noted that the body would be moved to a Mauritius morgue for postmortem before being flown back to Kenya.
It was stored in the ship's cold room in the meantime.
"Arrangements have been firmed up to have the body airlifted from Mauritius to Kenya where the deceased family will receive it," he added.
According to the Kenyan High Commission website, the kin of a person who dies abroad must provide a copy of a Death Certificate, a copy of Burial Transit Permit, a copy of the embalmment Certificate and a letter from the Health Department confirming that there was no contagious disease at the time of death before the body is transported back.
