Police are investigating after a man’s body went missing from the mortuary at Nicosia General Hospital, and nobody knows where it is. The loss came to light on Monday, when a funeral home employee arrived from Paphos to collect the body. It had been taken to Nicosia because the Paphos mortuary is out of order.
The man died in Paphos about a month ago, Phileleftheros understands. His death was not from natural causes, so the required post-mortem was carried out. The body was then placed in storage at the mortuary.
The funeral home employee had come to take the body to the firm’s premises. This was apparently so that arrangements could be made to repatriate it to the man’s country of origin, Britain, as his relatives wished. Only then was it found to be missing.
Police are now trying to establish where the body ended up. One scenario under examination is that a different funeral home became involved without this being recorded.
Initial checks found nothing to suggest the body had been officially moved anywhere else. Police were contacted to establish whether officers had moved it, but this could not be confirmed. A formal report was therefore filed at Latsia police station, which covers Nicosia General Hospital. A department of Nicosia police then took over the investigation because the case was considered serious.
Phileleftheros understands the case is also connected to the fact that mortuaries in Limassol, Paphos and other districts are not working. This forces police to take bodies to Nicosia. Bodies may also not be declared as protocol requires. Some are later collected by police, driven back to the districts and handed over to funeral homes, while others are moved by the funeral homes themselves. This leaves police bearing the cost of transport to and from the Nicosia mortuary, which comes to 250 euros per journey.
The disappearance has also brought back into focus unofficial arrangements between some police officers and funeral homes. Under these arrangements, the funeral homes take over bodies, move them to their premises and agree with relatives to carry out the funeral. Large sums of money are at stake when a body has to be sent abroad.
Police have previously investigated criminal cases involving mortuary attendants who colluded with funeral homes. That practice was later ended through clear instructions.
Read more:
