When the news of the body of Janu Gonsalves which was kept in the GMC Morgue found missing, I remember one somewhat similar incident taken place in Kuwait about 50 years back for a Goan man whose dead body was kept in the Morgue.
His name was Caridade but everyone called him as Caru Irmao who was working at Ahmadi Oil Sector for KOC where in a blast a few people were killed while many others were injured, 2 of them were Caru Irmao from Goa and the other one a Dhobi from Uttar Pradesh.
When the relatives of Caru Irmao went to prepare and keep the body ready for the last rites at the Catholic Church followed by the funeral at Shulaibiahat, by mistake instead of the body of Caru Irmao the relatives of Caru Irmao washed and dressed up the body of that Dhobi from Uttar Pradesh. The body then was brought to the Church for the final rites and when all the rites were finished there then the body of that Dhobi taken to the Cemetery for burial. While the priest was saying the last prayer at the grave, an Ambulance came with a big noise carrying the body of Caru Irmao wrapped in a bed sheet. Somebody in the Morgue noticed this goof and immediately took action but Caru Irmao’s body without any religious rite was buried wrapped in a bed sheet and Dhobi's body well dressed - up taken back to Morgue.
Why this incident has taken place in Kuwait? In 1975 when my Uncle died in Kuwait, I went with the same persons to prepare and keep the body of my uncle ready with all the formalities. These both Goans were well-known to wash and dress up the dead bodies in that area. When we entered the Morgue, we encountered 2 shabbily dressed and with ugly looks, Morgue attendants, both low grade Egyptians who saw the official paper we brought from the Hospital and told us in Arabic to go inside and take whichever the body of our man. Both the persons with whom I came to take the body were heavily drunk because without drinks they cannot do this job. To handle the dead bodies it is not an easy task, you require solid courage. Who shall give them this courage? According to them it is only the drinks in which they took support.
So they both went inside in the cold room and brought one body which was covered from head to feet with white bed sheet. But immediately I sensed some mistake from distance telling them this is surely a wrong body. For this, one of them told me in Hitlerian manner “You just remain silent, you know nothing, you are still a kid”. Then they brought the body below the shower and when the bed-sheet was removed, we all noticed that this body of one lady. Then we covered the same body with the bed-sheet and returned it to from where we brought and after proper checking we brought the body of my uncle for the necessary job before the burial.
A.Veronica Fernandes,