JEDDAH, 25 December 2002 — A dead body had to wait for three hours at the graveyard before being buried as the funeral certificate was stolen from the car of a close relative in Tabuk, Al-Watan reported yesterday.

Aziz Al-Balwi and other relatives found the document missing after they had carried the body to the grave after funeral prayers at the King Fahd Mosque in Al-Faisaliyah district . They found the car burgled and the wallet containing the document missing.

It took them three hours to obtain a duplicate certificate.