“Lab tests proved that the dead people used drugs or alcohol, inhaled poisonous material or took a large amount of prohibited medicines,” said Dr. Talal bin Muhammad Ikram.
He said the deceased were both Saudis and foreigners, and added that lab tests on the suspicious cases proved that they died because of taking prohibited items or inhaling large amounts of carbon monoxide or pesticides.
“If there are doubts of any criminal suspicions behind the cause of death, blood and urine samples and eye fluid are examined at the Center of Poisons. This is part of our work at the forensic department,” he explained, adding that a comprehensive report of the results is forwarded to the authorities concerned.
Ikram said there were 26 bodies of unidentified persons or illegitimate babies in the department’s refrigerators. He said the department has a total of 270 fridges to keep bodies.
“We face difficulties in locating their families,” he said.
The director said bodies of unidentified persons are kept in the fridges for three months and those of illegitimate babies for two weeks after which DNA tests are done and bodies buried. He denied claims there was shortage of caskets in the stores of the department, and said currently there are 80 empty boxes where bodies are kept.
“The department has also contracted a national company to make more caskets for the centers of the forensic medicine all over the Kingdom,” he said.
Ikram said technical procedures to prepare bodies for burials would not exceed 24 hours in any case. “The body is washed after the ice melts. It is then put in a casket together with materials preventing decomposition including coal. After this, the body is handed over to the caretaker to be taken to the airport,” he said.
The director said a committee consisting of representatives from the governorate, police and the Ministry of Health usually checks the fridges for bodies lying there for long periods. He said the committee sent about 1,000 bodies last year the majority of them to Pakistan.
