Abu Dhabi - The mix-up of the bodies of two Indian nationals who passed away in Abu Dhabi was blamed on “human error”.
The body of Keralite Nidhin Othayoth Kottaron, 29, is still stranded in a morgue in Abu Dhabi while the remains of Kamatchi Krishnan, 39, from Tamil Nadu, was wrongly sent to the former's relatives in Kerala on Friday. It is being kept in a government hospital mortuary, awaiting clearance.
Nidhin, who was working as a site supervisor in Maxwell Technical Services in Ruwais, was found hanging in his company's accommodation on July 5. And Krishnan, who worked as an electrician in Khatal Daan General Contracting, reportedly died of a cardiac arrest on July 7.
According to Sunil Kumar, Nidhin's employer and a relative, the mix-up happened due to a human error while identifying the body.
"Our company's PRO and a few colleagues wrongly identified Krishnan as Nidhin. I think the error occurred because the face was swollen and also there were no close relatives to accompany us to the mortuary," said Kumar. According to him, Krishnan's body was sent to Kerala on the Calicut-bound Air India flight on Friday.
A distant relative was also accompanying the body and at that time, we had no clue the mix-up had happened. All the papers were in the name of Nidhin. The flight landed around 5.15am and they were on their way to the deceased's house. We received a call from the hospital, alerting us about the mix-up around 8.30am - the same time when Krishnan's relatives opened the coffin in Abu Dhabi for body identification. The vehicle was immediately diverted to a hospital in Bathery in Wayanad, and Nidhin's relatives were informed," said Kumar.
A friend and representative of Krishnan's employer said relatives of the deceased were shocked when they saw another man in the coffin. "Krishnan's body was supposed to be sent on an Etihad flight to Chennai on Friday afternoon, and relatives were at the morgue around 8.30am for identification."
It is a complex procedure to swap the bodies that were identified wrongly. Indian embassy officials told Khaleej Times they have issued a fresh set of documents for repatriating Krishnan's body, and a set of duplicate documents for Nidhin's mortal remains.