JEDDAH, 3 May 2004 — Of all the bodies Zuhair Maimani’s company transports, the most difficult to come to terms with are the accident victims.

“In the last seven years since we started we have removed more than 10,000 corpses, both Saudis and expatriates,” said Maimani, of Samia, one of Jeddah’s first undertakers. “The most tragic cases are those killed in car accidents.”

“We have seen whole families killed in a car accident. Just last year, we had to deal with a family of seven — father, mother and children who died in a car accident in Jeddah.”

Maimani, who has a Ph.D in health and hospital administration from the United States, said that so many car accidents happen in the Kingdom that it is not unusual to find a lone survivor — a child, who has to live in an orphanage, because there are no relatives to take care of him.

“It is sad. The only way to minimize the situation is to drive carefully and avoid speeding,” he advised.

Samia is named after Maimani’s elder sister, who was killed about seven years ago in San Diego. Six months before her death, their aunt had died.

“Samia was in Jeddah at the time. We faced difficulty in removing the aunt’s body. We also thought of numerous people whose dead bodies were transported in “dabbab” or other open vehicles, because ambulances are too expensive.

“We thought, all his life a man lives in dignity and with respect, but then he has to go in such a way — heat, sun, dust, wind and cold. So we decided to start an undertaker service.” Samia did all the planning and logistics.

But then tragedy struck. “Samia was our first customer,” Maimani said. “We flew her body from San Diego and buried it in Makkah, our home town,” said Maimani.

“Our main objective is to help,” he said. “To handle the dead body with respect. When there is a death, the family is confused, who will wash the body, what to do about the shroud, and many other things.”

Samia charges SR150 to transport the body from home or hospital to graveyard. There are eight hearses with room for 10 family members to accompany the deceased.

Just last week, Samia signed a contract with the Jeddah municipality for burials — a new service on its books — in the Faisaliah cemetery, the biggest in Jeddah.

There are 13 graveyards in use in the city, and in a short period Samia hopes to cover them all.

It also has contracts with some Haj missions. Following the municipality contract, three women and three men will be employed to wash the bodies.

In accidents involving deaths, police call the municipality, which sends the body to the hospital, where the undertakers take over.

Samia has also handled those killed in crimes and fires.

According to Maimani, there is a cemetery in Jeddah for non-Muslims, but its use is rare.

Another difficult job is transporting the bodies of people who die alone. “Sometimes we have to move a body of a person, usually living alone, that is several days old, and the death only becomes known because of the stench. We have to clean the car at least 10 times after the body has been buried.”