“We will exhaust all measures at our disposal so that we can send the bodies to Colombo,” said Sri Lankan Consul General Sabarullah Khan, adding that the mission would take up matter with the Saudi Labor Ministry through the Foreign Affairs Ministry to blacklist the concerned employers so that they will not be able to recruit Lankan manpower in the future.

The diplomat explained that the families of the deceased are pressing the mission to send the dead bodies as quickly as possible. “Unfortunately, we are helpless here since the local sponsors turn a deaf ear oblivion to all sentiments,” he noted, pointing out that the documents that are necessary for repatriation have to be prepared by the sponsor and not the mission. “The mission is there to give the final clearance for the body to be air-freighted,” he stressed

Khan said that the main cause of their lack of interest is that they have to spend some SR 8,000 for the dispatch of the body to Colombo, which includes the freight, cost of embalming the body and the hospital expenses. “It is the responsibility of the sponsor to repatriate the body at his own expense,” the consul said, explaining documents such as medical report, death certificate, police report and copies of iqama and passport of the deceased have to be submitted by the sponsor for the repatriation process.

The official lamented that the aggrieved parties assume that the delay is due to lack of interest on the part of the mission.” What can we do without the sponsor’s help in this matter?” Khan queried.

The body that has been there in the mortuary in Taif for the past 10 months is of a housemaid, Weerakadera Chandrawathie, died on Sept. 18, last year. The other bodies are lying in Jazan, Abha, Al-Leith and Jeddah.

The causes of death among the dead were accidents, natural death and one case of suicide.