British citizen's body trapped in Turkish town

British citizen's body trapped in Turkish town

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

Graham Brocklehurt. DHA photo

A British family has been unable to retrieve the body of a 59-year-old relative due to official complications that followed his death on a plane that landed at İzmir airport, Doğan news agency has reported.
 
Graham Brocklehurt was on a flight to London from Dalaman when he began feeling unwell. The plane landed immediately at İzmir airport, where paramedics tried in vain to save the man.
 
Brocklehurt’s body was sent to a morgue in İzmir after it was declared that he had died of natural causes.
 
No official reports for 17 days
 
Because of a lack of official documentation, however, Broklehurt's body has not been released from the morgue for the past 17 days.
 
Brocklehurt's official death certificate, which must be issued before the body can be repatriated, has not yet been released.
 
Turkey's General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) said it had no authority to issue death certificates, adding that municipal authorities should perform the task.
 
But İzmir Municipality told DHMİ that because the death occurred at an airport, the aviation authority’s doctors should provide the death certificate.