On 6 August 2013, a Federation was holding a meeting in Bangkok. As one of the Federation’s officials, Mr Abbas was attending the meeting. Just as he was about to speak, he suffered a major heart attack. He was treated immediately by a medical team but it was too late, and the doctor on duty had to pronounce Mr Abbas’ death.
IMSSA was contacted by his Federation and quickly arranged to have his body repatriated to his country of residence. An autopsy was ordered and the following administrative documents issued:
- the death certificate
- the embalming certificate
- the certificate confirming the sealing of the coffin
- the non-contagion certificate (proving that the body was not contaminated by infectious diseases)
- the mortuary pass
- the burial permit
- the cancellation of the victim’s passport
- the repatriation letter
After embalming, the body was placed in a simple coffin, covered with a lid and sealed, and then placed in a metal box according to air cargo international transportation rules.
The main difficulty was making contact with the family in Iraq to coordinate the return and handover of the coffin in Baghdad. Thanks to assistance from the Iraqi National Federation, Mr Abbas arrived in his country of origin and was able to be buried there according to local Muslim customs.
